otto wenkstern_ history of the war in hungary in 1848 and 1849 [london 1859]

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HISTORY

OP THE

WAR IN HUNGARY

IN 1848 AND 1849.

BY

OTTO WENKSTERN.

Pneoipaam manas annalinm reor ne Tirtatea Bileantar,atqae prayis dictis factisque ex posteritate et infaraiametus sit.—TACITUS.

LONDON:

JOHN W. PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND.

1859.[The right of Translation it rtttrced^

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TO

THE HON. MRS. NORTON,

THIS BOOK

IS DEDICATED,s.

BY

HEB FAITHFUL AND OBEDIENT 8BBVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

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CONTENTS.

INTBODUCTION . • PP- I~~3

CHAPTER I.

A Retrospect—Constitution of Austria.—Annexation ofHungary.—Hungary under the Hababurgs.—Oppres-sion of the Crown Lands.—Hungary since 1815.—TheDiets of 1823 and 1833.—Crimes and Follies of Mag-yarism.—Louis Kossuth's Debut.—His Career.—HisParliamentary Reports.—Mr. Kossuth persecuted bythe Government.—His Trial and Imprisonment.—HisElection into the Lower House . . . . pp. 4—31

CHAPTER II.

Dismay of the Government.—Demands of the Opposition.—Diet of 1847.—Abolition of Servitude.—Introductionof the Magyar Language.—The Revolution of 1848.—Ferdinand of Austria.—Proceedings of the Diet.—TheHungarian Deputation.—Formation of a Cabinet.—Riots at Pesth.—Count Louis Batthyanyi.—Riots atPresburg.—Mr. Kossuth's Position.—The AustrianArmy. — Court Intrigues.—Joseph Jellachich. — HisIntrigues.—Manifesto against him.—The Servian In-surrection.—Kossuth's Speech on the State of theNation—Batthyanyi's Loyalty.—A Last Appeal.—TheCroatian Invasion pp. 32—85

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VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

Composition of Jellachich's Army.—Evil Repute of theCroats.—Measures of Defence.—Teleky's Retreat.—The Palatine.—His Flight.—Lamberg's Mission.—Riot at Pesth.—Assassination of Lamberg.—Skirmishat Sukuro.—Breach of the Armistice.—Jellachich theAlter Ego. — The Vienna Riots. — Appointment ofPrince Windishgratz.—Battle of Shwechat.—ArthurGdrgey.—The Hungarian Noble Guard.—Kossuth'sAgitation - . . . pp. 86—120

CHAPTER IV.

Prince Windishgratz.—His Plan of Operations.—Delu-sions.—The 2nd December, 1848.—A Declaration ofRights.—Muster of the Belligerents.—Windishgratz atPresburg.—Retreat from Raab.—Battle of Moor.—Men-dacious Bulletins.—Retreat to Debreczin.—Arrest ofCount Batthyanyi.—Combat at Teteny.—Occupation ofBuda and Pesth pp. 121—148

CHAPTER V.

Windishgratz at Pesth.—Joseph Bern.—Events in Tran-sylvania.—Massacres at Kis-Enyed and Zalathna.—•Combats at Csucsa, Sibo, and Decs.—Capture of Klau-senburg and Bisztritz.—Battle of Herrmanstadt.—Mutinous Conduct of Gorgey.—His Opposition to Mr.Kossuth.—His Treatment of the Austrian Prisoners.—Secret Motives of his Conduct . . . pp.149— l^l

CHAPTER VI.

Gorgey at Waitzen.—His General Orders.—His Modera-tion.—His Retreat from Waitzen.—Combat at Turczek.—Skirmish at Igl6—Guyon in the Branitzko.—George

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CONTENTS. Vll

Klapka.—Henry Dembinski.—Klapka's Confusion.—Combat of Torna Alya.—Dembinski and Gorgey.—Countermarching.—Battle of Kapolna.—Dembinski'sClemency.—Mutiny pp. 168—209

CHAPTER VII.

Delays.—Hatvan and Godollo.—Operations in Transyl-vania.— Close of the Winter Campaign. — MilitaryExecutions.—Treatment of Prisoners.—The Constitu-tion of the 4th March, 1849.—A Choice of Evils.—Declaration of Independence.—Discontents.—Concilia-tory Measures.—Schemes.—Gorgey's Choice.—GeneralHentzi.—Siege of Buda.—Treason.—A Crisis.—The Ap-peal to Russia.—The Russian Intervention, pp. 210—254

CHAPTER VIII.

The Russian * Invasion.—Kossuth's Measures.—Impos-tures.—Terrorism.—The Palatine Hussars.—Positionsof the Armies.—The Crusade.—Battle of Pered.—Com-bat at Acz.—Klapka's Duplicity.—The Flight fromPesth.—Haynau at Pesth.—Battles at Komorn,

PP- 255—284

CHAPTER IX.

The Beginning of the End.—A Last Chance.—Battle ofTemesvar.—Arad.—Kossuth and Gorgey.—Kossuth'sAbdication.—Negotiations.—Vilagos.—Gorgey's lastTreason.—Bern andGuyon.—Komorn.—Klapka's Capi-tulation.—His Apology.—The 6th October, 1849.—The Bloody Assize.—The End of the War,

pp. 285—324

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HISTORYOF

THE WAR IN HUNGARY

IN 1848 AND 1849.

INTRODUCTION.

OF the wars which sprang from the revo-lutionary impulse of the year 1848, none

was so fatal in its fury, so important in itsresults, and so interesting, even to the leastpolitical, among the nations of Europe, as thestruggle of the Hungarians for independence.The contests of the belligerent Germans andDanes in Holstein and Shleswig were longer,but their decision was withheld rather by theartificial means of armistices and negotiationsthan by the tenacity of purpose of the com-batants. The Shleswig war commenced andterminated in the manoeuvres of diplomacy,which are naturally slow, temporizing, and ofdistant and doubtful result. The war in Hun-gary, which began later than the Danish war,

B

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2 THE WAR IN HUNGARY.

and which ended sooner, had no pause for rest,consideration, or mercy: it swept from eventto event to the goal to which its componentelements, rather than the wishes of the anta-gonistic parties, were tending. And while inShleswig, the principal means of attack anddefence consisted in foreign troops, whose sym-pathies were not with the cause they cham-pioned, and while even the native forces werecommanded by foreign generals, hired for thepurpose, the Hungarian war was conducted bythe natives of the country, with the assistanceonly of a small number of sympathizers andexiles, while its fatal end was hastened by theactive interference of a third power, and con-summated by the despondency of some and thetreachery of others of the native leaders.

The Hungarian war, though most commentedon, was least understood; for so difficult hasthe study of the political questions which affectthe east of Europe always been to those accus-tomed to deal with the more attractive, becausemore conspicuous, affairs of the west, that thiswar, of unappreciated motives, uncertain begin-nings, and of a mysterious end, has uniformlybeen treated by those only whose prejudices orinterests disqualified them for the task. The

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INTRODUCTION. 3

series of events which commenced with theinvasion of Hungary by the Ban Jellachich, andwhich ended with General Gorgey's surrenderat Vilagos, has come to be a popular myth ratherthan an important, interesting, and fateful sec-tion of the history of this century. Such a stateof things must needs be detrimental to a justappreciation of the political condition of Europe,now and hereafter. I have, consequently, en-deavoured in these pages, disinterestedly andimpartially, to trace the causes and record theevents of the Croatian Invasion, of the War ofIndependence, and of the Russian Interventionin the affairs of Austria and Hungary.

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CHAPTER I.

A Retrospect.—Constitution of Austria.—Annexation ofHungary.—Hungary under the Habsburgs.—Oppres-sion of the Crown lands.—Hungary since 1815.—TheDiets of 1823 and 1833.—Crimes and follies of Mag-yarism.—Louis Kossuth's debut,—His career.—HisParliamentary Reports.—Mr. Kossuth persecuted bythe Government.—His Trial and Imprisonment.—HisElection into the Lower House.

TTiOR a full understanding of the causes which,J- for a time, armed one part of the Aus-trian empire against the other, it must be bornein mind, that the dominions of Austria are not,like France and England, peopled by menwhose laws, customs, manners, and languageare the same either originally or by the actionof a political union, and an amalgamation orabsorption of various races. The provinceswhich own the hereditary sovereignty ofthe imperial descendants of the Counts ofHabsburg, were acquired partly by conquest,and partly by treaties between the Austrianprinces and the sovereigns of other countries.By these and by other means, foreign to myobject, the Habsburgs, who formerly owned thecrown, and sometimes disposed of the power of

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CONSTITUTION OF AUSTRIA. 5

the Roman and German Empire, attainedthe sovereignty, and annexed Bohemia, Mo-ravia, Lombardy, together with many smallerterritories and principalities, over which theyruled, without the power to assimilate theSclavonic and Italian tribes which inhabited theannexed territories to the German populationof Austria Proper.

Attempts were, indeed, made for that pur-pose, and some dependencies, such as Bohemia,Moravia, and Carinthia, were partly Germanizedby settlers from the hereditary provinces; butthis measure, instead of creating an identity ofinterests and an uniformity of laws and languageamong the subjects of the crown of Austria,tended rather to divide them, and to split everykingdom, principality, or province, into twodistinct factions, whose antagonism, though itretained them in subjection, effectually pre-vented the absorption of the conquered races.Hence soon after the dissolution of the Romanand German Empire, the Emperors of Austriaruled as kings in Hungary, Bohemia, andGallicia; as Archdukes in Austria Proper;as Dukes in Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, andSilesia; as Princes in Transylvania; as Mark-graves in Moravia; and as Counts in Habsburg

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and in the Tyrol; while each of these countrieshoi a distinct administration, and boasted ofseparate privileges and immunities, by whichthe sovereign's authority was more or less con-fined, according to the terms of the originalcompact, in virtue of which each was subjectto the Habsburg family.

This diversity of dominion was productive ofevils to the sovereign, as well as to his sub-jects; and many princes in the last centuryand in this, sought, by open and covert means,to suspend the provincial charters, to abolishprovincial privileges, and to concentrate theadministration of all parts of the Austrianmonarchy. But the tenacity of purpose ofwhich those princes can justly boast wasneutralized by an equal perseverance on the partof their subjects, who refused to exchange theirlaws for a state of absolute dependence on theirresponsible will of the sovereign. In thisprotracted struggle, baffled violence had re-course to intrigue, and baffled intrigue to vio-lence, until disaffection to the crown, hatred ofits German partisans, and a frantic desire fornational independence, struck deep roots amidstthe Sclavonic, Magyar and Italian subjects ofAustria. That this should be so is natural, but

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ANNEXATION OF HUNGARY. 7

it is an extraordinary fact, that each tribe soughtto confirm its old privileges, and to obtain freshimmunities, by aiding and abetting the sove-reign's plans against the provincial indepen-dence of its fellow-subjects. The Emperor'sinfluence throve on the discords, and his powerbecame absolute by the secret jealousies of thevarious nations, each of which sought to derivesome private advantage from the common ruin.

Hungary was at once the most conspicuous,the most powerful, and the most troublesomepart of the Austrian empire. Joined to thatempire in the year 1526, after their forces weredefeated and their king slain at.Mohats, wherethey had striven, more gallantly than discreetly,to repel the invasion of the Turks: the Hun-garians acknowledged the sovereignty of Ferdi-nand of Austria, conditionally only, against theprotests of many, and with the cordial adhesionof none, except the faction of Ferdinand's ownsister, the Queen Dowager Maria. Sut sodesperate was the condition of Hungary, as theweaker state, and wedged in between Germanyand Turkey, that national independence couldno longer be thought of, and no choice was leftto the small remnant of that mighty barbariannation which at one time overran and despoiled

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all Europe, between subjection to the autho-rity of Austria on the one hand, or to that ofTurkey on the other, and according to the com-mon saying, it was an open question which wasthe worse, the Turk or the Austrian. Eitherexpedient was perilous: for Austria as well asTurkey had given ample proofs of its dislike ofthe liberties which the Hungarians had re-ceived at the hands of their native kings, orextorted from foreigners whom they from timeto time elected to the throne. Ferdinand ofAustria was the last of these foreigners. Hetook his oath to the constitution of Hungary,that is to say, he swore to respect and maintainthe laws of that country such as he foundthem, and he was solemnly crowned on the 3rdNovember, 1527.

From that time to the commencement of thelast war, the royal crown of Hungary has beenpart of the inheritance of the Austrian princesof the House of Habsburg, who reigned inHungary, not by virtue of their sovereignty inother countries, but by the right and on thestrength of the original compact of the year1527. These princes, though they often neg-lected to perform that part of the compact bywhich it was stipulated that they should clear

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HUNGARY UNDER THEJ HABSBURGS. 9

Hungary from the Turks, protect its frontiersagainst their invasions, and restore to theHungarians the provinces occupied by theTurks, or tributary to them, were at length'compelled to wage a war of exterminationagainst their pagan neighbours, whose ambitiongrew with success, and who, not satisfied withinvading Hungary, sought also to conquer theGerman provinces of the Empire. About theend of the last century only did the unitedforces of the Austrians and Hungarians fully suc-ceed in repulsing the armieswhich the sovereignsof Turkey every now and then despatchedacross their frontiers, nor could successive de-feats and terrible reverses permanently awe theTurks or disgust them with their predatoryexpeditions, until their power was finally brokenby the infant strength of the Russian Empire.

The three centuries which have passed sinceHungary first acknowledged the supremacy ofa German prince, were not only troubled byTurkish invasions, and wars with other foreignantagonists and rivals of the growing power ofAustria, but they were filled with disputes be-tween the princes and the people. It was theobject of the sovereigns still further to connectthe kingdom with the other countries over which

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10 THE Wi.B IN HUNGABY.

they ruled, to accustom the Hungarians to themanners, politics, and laws of Germany, and tosuppress their sectarian leanings towards theBohemian reformers, by the establishment of arigorous and uncompromising Roman Catho-licism.* To these ends were all the powers ofgovernment strained, and advantage was takenboth of national weaknesses and national dan-gers, while the Hungarians in their turn foiledthe artifices of a superior policy, and the slowbut certain workings of administrative mea-sures, by an occasional appeal to arms. Theirinsurrections would have been more successful,or less frequent, had they consented to reformtheir political constitution, and had they in thatreform consulted the necessities of a more en-lightened age. But throughout this protractedstruggle, it was their misfortune and their

* Martinitz, Minister under Leopold II. of Austria,is the most lucid exponent of the traditional principlesof Austrian government. He says:—" The duty of themagnates and nobles ought to be subjection; that of thepeople, servitude. It is a high crime and misdemeanorto inquire into the legality or illegality of the measures itpleaseth the king to take in the country which hath beenreduced by the just force of arms. Curious and imperti-nent inquiries into the alleged limits of the royal powerare hateful in the eyes of kings. There is no resisting theEmperor's will," &c.

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OPPRESSION OF THE CROWN LAND& 11

crime to defend privileges which had becomeabuses, and to claim that justice at the handsof their sovereign which they denied to thosesubject to their own power. For in the samemanner in which the Germans, led by theirprinces, sought to establish themselves in Hun-gary, with all the prerogatives of a conqueringand dominant race, did the Magyar populationof that country exercise an arbitrary, and inmany instances a cruel, domination over theconquered races of the Serbs, Slowacks, Wal-lacks, and Croats, and over the vagrant popula-tions of the gipsies and Jews. Even the privi-leges and immunities'granted by charter to theSuabian settlers, whom promises of land andmoney had induced to immigrate into parts ofthe country which had been depopulated by thecruelty of Magyar dominion, or the passage ofTurkish armies—-were the cause of discontentamong the Magyars, who considered it agrievance that a part of the population, how-ever small that part might be, should be sub-ject to the laws of the land rather than tothe will of the dominant race. Hence bycruelty, oppression, enmity, and persecution,the Magyars of Hungary contrived to breakthe spirit of the Serbs, Slowacks, and Wallacks,

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1 2 THE WAR IN HUNGABY.

to exasperate the Croats, and to impress theminds of the Suabian settlers with the convic-tion that their own and their children's hopesof peace, independence, and prosperity, werebound up with the maintenance and extensionof the Austrian power.

Thus isolated by their own misdoing, andfrequently in the hour of need deserted orattacked by the conquered races—which, thoughdivided in origin and language, were yet unitedby common hates and fears—the Magyars ofHungary were ill prepared to resist the in-fluence of Austrian perseverance and Catholicfanaticism. If they did withstand it to someextent, it was owing to events foreign to theircontrol. The dangers of Turkish invasion, thereligious wars in Germany, and at a laterperiod, the precarious position of the Austrianemperors in their wars with Prussia and France,compelled them to suspend their operationsagainst the independence of the kingdom, andto court the support of the bellicose Magyarsby flattery, concessions, and promises of futureprivileges. It is but justice to the Hunga-rians to say, that on such occasions theyhave scarcely ever taken an unfair, advan-tage of the dangers which threatened their

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HUNGABY SINCE 1815. 13

kings; that their treasures and their lives werefreely sacrificed on behalf of Austria; and thatno offers of independence and power could temptthem to abandon the cause of their sovereign.But when peace was restored, and imperialpower re-established, the Austrian Princes re-sumed their schemes of home-conquest againstthe country which had propped up their fallingcause, and Hungary, depopulated and drainedby the necessities of war, divided against herself,and taking her stand on the untenable groundof stubborn, uncompromising conservatism, wascompelled to gather her last remaining strengthfor a feeble defence against the attacks of acrafty, powerful, and unscrupulous antagonist.

Such was the state of things at the close ofthe last European war. Throughout that war,in the disastrous campaigns against the FrenchRepublic, and in the not less fatal conflictwhich the Austrian cabinet provoked withNapoleon, the Hungarians had cheerfully bornetheir part of the burdens of the time, and theirregiments had done excellent service on many abattle-field. It is true that their devotion was theresult rather of national and individual vanitythan of love for the reigning house of Austria,or for the Emperor, Francis II., whose coarse

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1 4 THE WAK IN HUNGARY.

vulgarity and selfish, cruel disposition betrayeditself by a thousand acts of vexatious despotism.Hence, immediately after Napoleon's reverses'in Russia, the estates of Hungary proceeded tobesiege their sovereign with petitions, in whichthey claimed the reward of their loyalty andpatriotism; and the old struggle between kingand people was renewed in all its silent fury.At the Diet of 1813 and 1813, the repre-sentatives of the nation remonstrated againstthe financial measures of the Austrian cabinet—against measures which had involved theother provinces of the empire in a commongulf of confusion, and ruin, and whose de

facto influence had already been extended toHungary. Their remonstrances remained inef-fectual, and almost unconsidered. Francisdissolved the Diet, and resolved to governwithout the interference of the nobles, knights,and burgesses of Hungary. This resolutionwas adhered to, until the troubles of 1819and 1820 intimidated the cabinet of Viennato such a degree that the expedient of an-other Diet appeared acceptable, and even de-sirable. But the exasperation of public feelingin Hungary threw formidable obstacles in theway of that expedient. A Diet had been

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THE DIET OF 1823. **

thought of, not as a means of information con-cerning the wrongs of the nation, with a viewto their redress, but merely to amuse the publicmind with hopes of a better future. It wasalso thought desirable that part of the odiumwhich rested on the government should fallon the representatives of the people, and thatthe discontents with which the time was rifeshould be foiled by want of concentration.Measures were taken to prepare and influencethe elections, whose result, it was thought, de-pended mainly on the energy and ability of theking's lieutenants, who presided on such occa-sions. It was not, therefore, until the year1823 that the government thought it safe toconvoke the Diet, which, when assembled,proved less corruptible than its originators an-ticipated. Among its first acts was the im-peachment of the king's lieutenants and com-missioners, who were, however, saved by theinterference of the crown.

Another result of this Diet was the esta-

blishment of the Magyar idiom as the official lan-

guage in the administrative and judicial courts

of the kingdom. A motion to that effect was

made by Paul Nagy, the member for Oeden-

burg; it was assented to by the Diet, and con-

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1 6 THE WAR IN HUNGARY.

firmed by the king, who considered this conces-sion as unimportant, and in return, desired thatthe Diet ' should forget the events of the lastyears/ The Diet consented, for few of its mem-bers were bold enough to court the odium andthe danger of an uncompromising opposition.The official recognition of the Magyar lan-guage obtained a disproportionate and lastingimportance by the indiscretion of the Hun-garians, who attempted to introduce their lan-guage into provinces and districts where theMagyar population was outnumbered by otherraces. Their fanaticism, and the oppositionof the conquered races, were spurred on andfomented by the Austrian agents and func-tionaries, for the division of the country was aguarantee of its weakness.

The French Revolution of 1830, the exileof the Bourbons, and the revolutions in Belgiumand Poland, influenced the policy of the Austriancourt, and its measures respecting Hungary.The Diet, at once convoked, was informedof the Emperor's resolution to resign thecrown, but not the government of the king-dom, in favour of his son and heir, Ferdinand.Nothing in this proposal could provoke oppo-sition, and Ferdinand, the fifth king of that

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THE DIET OF 1833. ' 17

name, was allowed to take the customary oathto the constitution. His coronation took placeat Presburg, with great pomp and solemnity,and with all that festivity and rejoicing whichthe great mass of nations delight in, and whichhas an irresistible attraction for the enthusiastic,susceptible, and credulous. The event justifiedthe policy of the Austrian statesmen. Notonly did the session pass without a demandfor the redress of grievances; Hungary notonly remained tranquil during the Polish in-surrection, but the demand for fresh levies ofrecruits was readily sanctioned by the Diet,and an additional levy of 20,000 men decreed,against the necessities of the time requiringthe augmentation of the Austrian army. Dis-cretionary powers to this effect were vested inthe government.

The next Diet met in 1833, and this timean attempt was made to introduce some orderinto the confusion of the Hungarian affairs.Nor could the most zealous partisans of theVienna Cabinet deprecate such an attempt aspremature or uncalled-for. It appears, fromthe testimony of most native writers of theperiod, that the errors and sufferings of allclasses and races in that unfortunate king*

c

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18 * THE WAR IN HUNGABT.

dom, had come to be beyond toleration aswell as beyond endurance. Since the peaceof 1815, almost all the countries of Europehad increased in wealth, science, and arts:Hungary was poor: her peasantry were starv-ing, her aristocracy ruined, or courting ruinby absenteeism. Usury and public and pri-vate immorality prevailed; superstition grewapace, for public instruction had been allowedto decline. Justice was venal; all places oftrust and importance were either sold to thehighest bidder, or given to men whose want ofprinciple recommended them to those in power.The peasantry were overburdened with taxesand feudal imposts and labour. Manufacturesthere were none; the want of means of com-munication obstructed the import and exportof produce. Trade was monopolized by theJews and Greeks, and the country swarmedwith vagrants, robbers, and gipsies.

Part of the reproach of such a state of thingsis doubtlessly chargeable on the Austrian go-vernment, which preferred home conquest tohome colonization, and which hailed the abjectcondition of Hungary as a means of obtainingan uncontrolled and irresponsible sway overthat country. Sut the burden of the blame

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CRIMES AND FOLLIES OF MAGYARISM. 19

rests with the Hungarians themselves, who atall times chose rather to rise against their op-pressors, than to withstand their bribes offavour, influence, or money. If, in its contestwith the despotic tendencies of the Austriancrown, the Magyars fought single-handed, theysuflFered the penalty for separating their causefrom that of the other inhabitants of theircountry, whom conciliatory manners, ratherthan a conciliatory policy, would have con-verted into their firmest friends and allies.The friendship or enmity of nations, as of men,is called forth less by great and sweepingmeasures, than by the petty kindnesses oroppressions of every-day life. The violenceand brutality which the Magyars deprecatedin the Austrians, marked their own conduct tothe non-Magyar population of Hungary.

A partial step in the right direction wastaken by the Diet of 1833, when, in spite ofa powerful organized government opposition, itregulated, and in fact abolished, the feudalburdens which oppressed the peasantry. Abill was passed, limiting the power of inflictingcorporal punishment upon the denizens of theglebe (glebae addicfl), and enabling the peasantsto possess freeholds, and to purchase immunity

c %

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20 THE WAR IN HUNGAEY.

from feudal burdens and robot, or forced labouron the lands of the lord of the manor. ThisDiet, too, became remarkable for the firstpopular demonstration against the corruptionwhich had hitherto enabled the government tooppress the Hungarians, by means of their ownvices. M. Baloz, the member for Bartsh, anda leader of the liberal opposition, was impeachedby the king's commissioners. According to thecustoms of Hungary, his constituents werecalled upon to decide between him and hisaccusers. A member of the Diet, when accusedof any crime, was bound to offer himself forre-election, and the result of that election de-cided his fate. In Baloz's case, great exertionswere made to induce the freeholders of Bartshto return the government candidate, and thepromise of their votes was bought by a liberaldistribution of five-florin notes, which theyaccepted. But on the day of the election, theymarched up to the hustings with the purchase-money in their hands, and, filing past theking's commissioner, flung the bribe at hisfeet. Baloz was re-elected.

Nor is this demonstration of electoral inde-pendence the only remarkable feature of the*Diet of 1833. Its debates contain the first

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FIRST APPEARANCE OF LOUIS KOSSUTH. 2 1

public records of a man who, from small begin-nings, has risen to great power and dignity.Louis Kossuth's public career commenced inthe course of that Diet, whose sittings he at-tended as solicitor and proxy for an absentee.For although various ill-advised attempts havebeen made by Hungarian and British writersto compare the constitution of Hungary withthose usages and observances which in Englandhave limited the violence of hostile factions,and compelled them, in spite of private pas-sions, to labour for the public good, it willbe found, on closer examination, that the twoconstitutions are as different in their mode ofworking as in their results.

In Hungary, the Upper House of the Legis-lature, or € Board of Magnates/ consisted ofthe large landed proprietors and dignitaries ofChurch and State; it was provided that eventhe widows of magnates, and those whom busi-ness, pleasure, or ill health prevented from at-tending the sittings of the Board, should watchits proceedings by means of a deputy, who tookthe seat allotted to the absentee, but who wasnot permitted to vote. It appears that the dutiesof a magnate's deputy were confined to thewatching and reporting the debates for the in-

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formation of his employer. The functions ofthat charge were usually entrusted to youngor briefless barristers and solicitors, who, be-sides the emoluments of such a situation, wishedto obtain that information respecting the de-tails and management of public affairs, whichthe great newspapers in England convey to allranks and classes, but which, in Hungary,from the want of private or official parliamentaryreports, was confined to the few whose privilegeit was to watch the proceedings of the twoHouses. Among the most serious evils of thissystem were the facilities it afforded to themagnates of slighting their legislative duties,and the amount of superficiality, ill-judgedzeal, chicanery, and double dealing which itencouraged. Whatever good effects it had,were confined to the training of a few needyand talented youths to the management ofpublic affairs.

Of these was Louis Kossuth, the son of asmall freeholder and land-steward in the countyof Zemplin, who, born in 1806, had completedhis twenty-seventh year when his ancestralpoverty and natural gifts attracted the attentionof his father's employer, and procured for him.the stipend of a parliamentary agent and re-.

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MB. KOSSUTH'S CAREER* 2 3

porter. Although considerable interest hasbeen excited by later events respecting the earlycareer of a man whom many consider as theprototype of the good and bad qualities of hisnation, yet so blind were the loves andhatreds which clung to him, that little or noauthentic information has transpired on thesubject. The few facts which can be said tobe established, show him a gloomy and eccen-tric boy, and a youth in whom habits of studyand application were curiously blended withsome less creditable pursuits. His enemieshave accused him of excessive intemperanceand sexual immorality, and of gambling anddishonesty in money matters. His friendsprotest that Louis Kossuth's youth passedamidst the purest and brightest aspirations;that he remained a stranger to the vices of theage; and that the dishonesty, intemperance,and immorality of the dominant Austrian fac-tion could never seduce the ascetic severity ofhis morals, or the Catonic rectitude of his prin-ciples. Fiction reigns undisturbed where factsfail, nor is it possible to reclaim the life of theHungarian dictator from the extravagant asser-tions of party romance, so long as those whoare most likely to know the truth are most


24 THE WAK IS HUNGARY,

interested in concealing it. There is reason tofear that some portions of Louis Kossuth's life,such as the alleged embezzlement of publicmonies, will always remain debateable groundfor biographers and the writers of politicalmemoirs; for, rightly or wrongly, he wascharged with the crime and prosecuted, and thedocuments relative to that prosecution havei

been destroyed.

It would appear that the corps of magnates'deputies and private reporters of parliamentaryproceedings at the Presburg Diet of J 833 mosthave been deficient in style, as well as in a justappreciation of the leading points of the de-hates ; for Louis Kossuth had no sooner en-tered on the functions of his office, than themanner and the style of his reports attractedthe attention of his friends, and by degreesthat of members of the Diet, and othersinterested in its proceedings. His reportsand commentaries on the most importantdebates, were in great requisition, and it wasultimately resolved to print and circulate them.The manner in which this resolution was car-ried out is characteristic of the time and of ttpeople. The magnates and wealthy commoners^1

of Hungary, who recklessly spent their incomes,

KOSSUTH'S PARLIAMENTARY BBPOBTS. 25

if not more, in pursuits often discreditable tothemselves and obnoxious to others, were with-out an exception unable to afford the funds forthe projected literary undertaking. A smalllithographic press was purchased, but the sumhad to be collected by a general subscription ofthe liberal opposition. Mr. Kossuth's reports,thus multiplied, were published under the titleof a Parliamentary Gazette, and distributedamong the original subscribers, and thosecountry gentlemen who chose to purchase poli-tical intelligence at the price of a few shillingsper annum. This undertaking, however limitedin its extent, exercised a powerful influence onthe political development of Hungary.

Up to that period, a general report of theproceedings of the Diet had been published bythe government, but its style, like that of mostofficial productions, was not calculated to en-gage the generality of readers. Its guarded lan-guage; its equivocations and frequent omis-sions of facts; its edition for an official purpose,made it an object of suspicion and disgust. Thesereports were, moreover, published with all theslowness which formerly characterized the ope-rations of the continental press. The publica-tion of official returns was carried on by fits


26 THE WAR IN HUNGAEY.

and starts, and the public were alternately dis*gusted by an over-abundance, and by a totalwant of, printed papers. Mr, Kossuth's re-ports, published daily after the close of publicbusiness, recorded and commented upon thelast debates; they came to hand in single num-bers, and while the questions of which theytreated were still pending, and consequentlyopen to influence from without; and they wereconfined to the pith and marrow of the matterbefore the House. His undertaking was emi-nently successful, and its influence becamesoon manifest to those agents of the govern-ment whose duty it was to watch and reporton the* state of public opinion in Hungary.

The worst fault of nearly all continental go-vernments is their practice of increasing thepopularity of their political antagonists by pettypersecutions. Though as vindictive, they areless courageous than the politicians of formertimes, who never struck a second blow. InAustria the system of repression by small mea-sures had been carried to an astonishing and adangerous perfection, for it enlisted publicsympathy on behalf of the victims. LouisKossuth, the journalist, was a cause of annoy-ance to the Austrian government; an injunc-

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KOSSUTH PEBSECXJTED BY GOVERNMENT. 2 7

tion was issued to prevent the publication ofhis reports by means of lithography. The re-sult of this injunction was, that those reportswere copied by a staff of clerks, that their lan-guage became violent, and their price higher,and that their circulation increased. At theclose of the Diet in 1836, Louis Kossuth, whomexperience had taught the benefits of persecu-tion, continued to provoke the government byhis reports on the transactions of the countymagistrates of Pesth. Up to that period, theking's lieutenants in the various counties hadsucceeded in preventing the publication of thelocal or county Diets; and by so doing, theyprevented all joint action and co-operation ofthe various Hungarian districts. Injunctionafter injunction was issued from Vienna, anddisregarded by Mr. Kossuth; who, assured ofthe protection of the magistrates of Pesth, andglorying in the attacks of an unpopular cabinet,sought still further to goad his opponents tomeasures of violence. Orders were issued forhis arrest; but the chancellor of the king-dom refused to sign the warrant. He wasremoved, andhis place given to the CountF, Palfly, a willing tool in the hands of thecabinet; and the cities of Buda and Pesth wit*

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28 THE WAB IK HUHGABY.

nessed the extraordinary spectacle of a com-pany of grenadiers, with fixed bayonets, march-ing to arrest a single and defenceless man.The reason why so strong a force was sent todo the office of constable has never been ex-plained. Even at the time it was a questionwith the witnesses of the scene whether thecabinet sought to awe the public mindby an imposing display of military force, orwhether those in power over-estimated theamount of popularity which their persecutionhad gained for Mr. Kossuth. But whetherfrom bravado or fear, the result proved that theAustrian government committed a terrible fault,if not a crime, in arresting the franklin ofZemplin, the salaried clerk of a country gentle-man, and the publisher and editor of a smalllocal newspaper, with all the pride, pomp, andcircumstance of a martial expedition.

The news of the event spread like wildfirethrough Hungary. Petitions, remonstrances,and deputations were sent in from all parts;and while Kossuth awaited his trial in the€ New Prison' of Pesth, his name became thewatchword of the opposition, and his liberationwas considered as the rallying-point of thewildest hopes. Nor could this popularity

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CONDEMNATION OP MR. KOSSUTH. 2 9

be lessened by the arrest of other liberals,although these later victims were more con-spicuous, some by birth, and some by a longerand more active public career. The CountTtaday, Madaraz, Ujhazy, B. Wesseleneyi, andBalogh shared the journalist's fate, and werearraigned with him before the same tribunal.The sentence against Wesseleneyi and Kossuthcondemned them to three years' imprisonment,'for having disobeyed the king's orders/This sentence appears extremely mild, if com-pared with the long terms of imprisonmentwhich Austrian judges are in the habit of pro-nouncing against those whom their govern-ment fears or hates. But so great are thehorrors of an Austrian fortress, that even theconfinement of a few months sufficed to affectthe health of body and mind of many unfor-tunate prisoners. When, after two years' con-finement, the menacing attitude of the Hun-garian counties induced the cabinet of Viennato conciliate the public by an amnesty, Mr.Kossuth left his cell in the fortress of Buda,broken in health, and exasperated to the lastdegree. € My fate rests in God's hands,' saidhe, at a later period; € it is His to consign meto suffering, to exile, or to the block; but even

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8 0 THE WAB IN HUNGARY.

His power shall never again make me subjectto the Habsburg dynasty !'

It is strangely characteristic of the Austriangovernment, that after raising Mr. Kossuthfrom his obscurity to the eminence of a politicalantagonist, and after giving him bodily proofsof their cruelty and vindictiveness, they shouldat the eleventh hour have sought to gain himover to their party. Their measures to thateffect were as petty and awkward as their for-mer persecutions. If the liberated convict hadbeen left to starve or live on the bounty of hisfriends, his poverty would have ruined his inde-pendence, and crippled his energy. If he hadbeen appointed to an important and lucrativeoffice, his patriotism would have been suspected,and his condition envied by those who couldnot hope for an equal amount of good fortune.The cabinet of Vienna, impelled by a strangefatality, chose a middle course between the twoexpedients. They sought to conciliate theirenemy by granting a licence for a newspaper,the Pesti Hirlap, and they consented to Kossuthundertaking its management. Nothing couldbe more advantageous for a man of an almostfeminine softness, vanity, indolence, and irasci-bility, than to be thus thrown on his own re-

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MB. KOSSUTH IN THE LOWER HOUSE. 31

sources, and compelled to come again beforethe public, with the reminiscences of a victimand the glory of a martyr. From that timeforward, Louis Kossuth took his place amongthe leaders of the opposition. At the electionsfor the Diet of 1840 and 1845, the governmentsucceeded in preventing his return as a memberof the Lower House, or Board of Estates; buthis influence grew apace, and when the Diet of.1847 opened, the opposition had obtained asignal triumph in the elections, and Mr.Kossuth took his seat as member for thecounty of Pesth.

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CHAPTER II.

Dismay of the Government.-!—Demands of the Opposition.—Diet of 1847.—Abolition of Servitude.—Introductionof the Magyar language.—TJie Revolution of 1848.—Ferdinand of Austria.—Proceedings of the Diet.—TheHungarian Deputation.—Formation of a Cabinet.—Riots at Pesth.—Count Louis Batthyanyi.—Riots atPresburg.—Mr. Kossuth's Position.—The AustrianArmy. — Court Intrigues.—Joseph Jellachich. — HisIntrigues.—Manifesto against Him.—The Servian In-surrection.—Kossnth's Speech on the State of theNation—Batthyanyi's Loyalty.—A last Appeal.—TheCroatian Invasion.

THAT the power of government—that itsthreats of displeasure—that its promises of

favour and patronage, and other bribes of adifferent and still grosser kind, co-operatingwith domestic prejudices and enmities, with thezeal of old foes and the rancour of old friends—should have failed, not to ruin, but merely toprevent the election into Parliament of oneman, was an unprecedented fact in the historyof the Austrian administration. This factbecame still more significant and startling fromthat man's circumstances and past career. Hederived his influence neither from birth nor

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DEMANDS OF THE OPPOSITION. 3 3

wealth. The name of Kossuth was not con-nected with the insurrections and victories ofancient times, and he who bore it, lacked themeans to purchase the support of a faction.Raised to notoriety by a series of persecutionswhich were as imprudent as they were unjust,his popularity was proportionate to the unpopu-larity of the government. He represented, nothis own interests or those of a class or an order,but the disaffection and opposition which wererife in all ranks and classes. His election bythe most important of the counties, showedthat disaffection had awoke to a consciousnessof its intensity, and that Louis Kossuth couldcommand the suffrages, and rely on the support,of the magnates, the franklins, and even of theserfs of Hungary, so long as he could give voiceto their feelings, and demand the redress ofgrievances which all felt, though none couldstate them so well.

Facts like these were not lost on the Aus-trian government, which for once was alive tothe signs of the time. A last attempt wasmade to disarm opposition by concessions.The demands of that opposition were clear andwell defined. The protection of native interests ;the reform of municipal institutions, and the

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supremacy of Magyarism, had frequently butvainly been asked at the hands of the King ofHungary. It was now resolved to comply withthe two former of these requests, and by thiscompliance to obtain the remission of the third.For the supremacy of Magyarism implied notonly the paramount dominion of the Magyarsover the conquered races, but their administra-tive independence from Austria. While con-centration was the object of the Austrian policy,the Hungarians strove for separation, and adivision of all but the outward form of theirallegiance. This, then, was the real questionat issue between Austria and Hungary.

On the iath of November, 1847, ^ e Dietmet at Presburg, and the Emperor and KingFerdinand opened its proceedings by an ad-dress in the Magyar language. The first effectof this expedient exceeded the boldest hopesof those who had advised it. The members ofthe two Houses were frantic in their enthu-siasm, grey-haired old men wept with joy. Forthe first time in three hundred years a King ofHungary addressed the Estates in their mothertongue. The propositions which accompaniedhis address were liberal in the extreme : theyanticipated the demands of the reformers, for

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THE DIET OP 1847. 35

by them the attention of the Diet was directedto the very reforms which the opposition had formany years sought to force upon the governmentat Vienna, and upon its partisans in Hungary.An equitable distribution of public burdens;the more efficient representation of the cities,free districts, and chapters; the abolition ofthe customs line between Austria and Hun-gary ; the improvement of internal communi-cations, such as the navigation on the Theissand the construction of the Fiume railway,important because it connected the fertileplains of Hungary with the Adriatic—theseand other alleviations, concessions, and meansof .improvement, were oflFered by the Austriancabinet. In 1837, the least of these proposi-tions would have sufficed to satisfy the moderatedesires of the reformers, and to convert theiropposition into the stanchest conservatism.But in 1847 the party of progress had becomereckless by disappointment. The concessionsof the government spurred them to freshexertions. Hence the address which Mr. Kos-suth was instructed to write in reply to theroyal speech, acknowledged and accepted all thegovernment had oflFered, but it also adduced freshgrievances and advocated further reforms. It is

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true that this addresswas violently opposed by theConservatives in the Lower House, and that theBoard of Magnates condemned it altogether;but the result was, that the Estates of Hungaryreturned no answer whatever to the royalspeech, and that it required an extraordinary,explanatory, and exculpatory message, to obtainthe usual vote of thanks from the two Houses.

The same spirit of determined, uncompro-mising opposition pervaded all other debatesand transactions of the Diet. The governmentplan of superseding the lord-lieutenants of thecounties by special commissioners, whom theminister appointed, and who were removableat pleasure, was assailed by Mr. Kossuthand the rest of the liberal deputies. A moreequitable distribution of the taxes and impostswas moved by Bartholomew Szemere, and sup-ported by Count Szechenyi. The county rates,it was resolved, should not for the future beborne exclusively by the serfs and their libe-rated descendants, but also by the Magyarfranklins, whom, by a strange perversity oflanguage, the Hungarians designate by thename of (noblemen,' whereas, in reality, theiraristocracy is small in numbers, and a dis-tinct and separate body from the large massof the franklins or freeholders. These—who

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ABOLITION OP SERVITUDE. 3 7

had never before taken their part in theburdens of the State, while, with many exclu-sive rights and privileges, they owned only theduty of insurrection, that is to say, the duty ofdoing military service in defence of Hungaryand Austria—were now for the first time calledupon, not only to impose taxation, but also totake their share of the burden. The abolitionof the ' censur* of printed books and paperswas likewise moved by Mr. Kossuth in theLower House, and in the House of Mag-nates by Count Louis Batthyanyi and BishopLonovics, who quoted the liberal reform move-ment which the Pope Pius IX. headed in Italy.Thus supported, Mr. Kossuth's motion wasreferred to a committee of the Lower House.The completion of the abolition of feudal bur-dens was brought forward by Gabriel Lonyay,who entreated the Diet to make the acceptationof the fine, if offered by the serfs, compulsoryto the lords of the manor. After a protracteddebate, the house accepted G. Lonyay's motion,and the abolition of urbarial burdens andpersonal servitude, which the last Diet hadcommenced, was completed on the 6th Decem-ber, 1847.

In the first weeks of 1848 the two Housesdiscussed the propriety of taking measures for

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the propagation of the Magyar language. Theyresolved to extend and enforce the laws whichhad been passed on former occasions, andenacted that documents drawn up in anybut the Magyar language should be null andvoid. Had this resolution excluded the Ger-man language only, it might be considered asan act of prudent resistance against the en-croachments of a foreign minority; but it wasaggressive likewise. The conquered and de-pendent races which live amidst and aroundthe Magyars, clung as tenaciously to theiridioms and languages as the Magyars didto theirs; and the spirit of nationality withwhich the latter sought to protect their lan-guage and national customs against the aggres-sions of the Germans, animated the Servians,Wallacks, Croats, and other subdivisions ofthe great Sclavonian family, to defend theirlanguages and customs against the Germansand the Magyars. It is true that, in a coun-try such as Hungary, the question mightnaturally arise, which of the many idioms oughtto be the dominant official or diplomatic lan-guage ? The Magyars, who claimed theprerogative of imposing theirs, were in aminority if compared to the bulk of the popu-

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INTRODUCTION OF THE MAGYAR LANGUAGE. 39

lation of Hungary, but as a race compared toother races, they were in a majority—that is tosay, there were in Hungary about seven millionsof Magyars, while neither the Serbs, nor theWallacks, nor the Croats or Slowacks, reachedsb • high a figure. The Magyars, althoughvastly inferior to the aggregate amount of non-Magyars, outnumbered each of the other tribes.Deputies from Croatia and from other Scla-vonian counties sat in the Hungarian Diet;and these deputies, who knew little of theMagyar language, protested against its supre-macy, and insisted on speaking in Latin, whichfor many centuries had been the lingua francaof their mixed nationalities.

The introduction of the Magyar languageinto the non-Magyar counties was an act ofoppression. The purposes of a liberal govern-ment would have been better served had theDiet acquiesced in the use of all idiomsand languages which were represented onHungarian ground; had some linguistic pro-ficiency been made obligatory on their officialsand judges, and had they, by the cultivationof polite arts and sciences in the Magyar,sought to absorb rather than suppress theSclavonic and Daco-Boman idioms. These are

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40 THE WAB IN HUNGARY.

the means by which the English languagehas been spread among all the nations ofthe earth. The races which we conqueredhave been the more ready to adopt our lan-guage, from the respect we showed to theirnational peculiarities. The Magyars werestrangers to this British tolerance, and this themore, since their own linguistic enthusiasmwas of recent date. The arbitrary decrees bywhich the Diet of 1847-48 sought to suppressthe Sclavonic dialects, served still further toexasperate the non-Magyar population in Hun-gary, and the inhabitants of Croatia and Tran-sylvania, and to prepare their minds for asecession from and an insurrection against theencroachments of Magyar supremacy.

The Diet was still occupied with these, andwith some restrictive measures against theinhabitants of Croatia, when the news of thethird French revolution reached Presburg.The manner in which that news acted uponalmost all countries of Europe must be fresh inthe recollection of many. The intelligence ofthe sudden overthrow of the Orleans dynastywas discredited at first hearing, and whendoubt became impossible, men looked at oneanother with pale blank faces, inquiring, what

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THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848. 41

next?—like those that find no room for re-joicing in the -face of an... awful danger. Inall Continental countries, the liberal partythought the moment fayourable for obtain-ing some concessions from those in power,but in place of the liberal concessions whichthey demanded, they were overwhelmed witha radical revolution. So faint-hearted andtrembling were the rulers of Europe in thoseawful days, so vacillating were their resolves,and so self-defeating their policy, that the largemass of disorderly and restless persons whichagitates at the bottom of all political societies,was provoked to acts of aggression against theauthorities, which acts, when not resented,were succeeded by other deeds of greater vio-lence, until within a few weeks after the flightof Louis Philippe of Orleans from Paris, therewas no continental capital without its riots.Nor were there many continental princes whosepusillanimity did not swell the riots into re-volts. In those days of frantic excitementeven the better part of the population wereexasperated by the concentration of large bodiesof troops, which, assailing or assailed, werealways compelled to retreat from the furyof the unleashed passions of the populace. The



princes stood alone; their servants, who hadused them as instruments for their selfish pur-poses, took flight when they ought to havesealed the sincerity of their principles and theloyalty of their attachment, with the bloodthey had so often offered to shed for theirmasters. And those masters, who were, forthe most part, utter strangers to the wishesand the necessities of the people—who foolishlybelieved that the cry for independence andself-government emanated only from a smallnumber of factious persons, were terrified tosee all ranks, all classes, all ages—rich andpoor, high and low, men, women, and evenchildren, arrayed against them, and demandingthat as their right, which, a few short monthsbefore, even the boldest would have trembledto solicit as a grace. Deserted by their favour-ites, abandoned by their troops—the roar ofan angry multitude swelling on their ears, andwith their mind's-eye fixed on that old man,whom the execration of a nation hunted acrossthe British Channel; or worse, on that king ofthe same country, Whose head fell on the Placede la Revolution amidst the yells of a brutalizedmob—these princes resisted no demand, re-signed all power of government, and clutched

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FERDINAND OP AUSTRIA. 4 3

with an eager and trembling grasp the crumbswhich fell from the table of the demagoguesand leaders of the hour.

If such was the conduct of men, some ofwhom, though they lacked all public virtues,were renowned for the talents which adorn thelives of persons in a private capacity; whatcould be expected from a prince such as Ferdi-nand of Austria ? That unfortunate emperorwanted not only the qualities of a regent,but also that moderate degree of commonsense of which his meanest functionaries couldboast. Ferdinand, Emperor of Austria andKing of Hungary, had been subject to variousailments from his infancy. His education wasneglected, his attention confined to boyish plea-sures and sports, and from his first assumptionof the crown to the day on which he resignedhis power, he was accustomed to obey ratherthan to command. It is said of him (and thereis no reason to disbelieve the statement) thathe would frequently burst into tears whenthwarted by those among his subjects who sur-rounded his person; and that the only occasionon which he had recourse to his prerogative ofirresponsible sway, was an act of rebellionagainst the dictates of his cook and his physician.

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This prince, whose life had passed among hisbirds and flowers, who obediently and placidlyperformed the functions of an imperial dummy—the only ones which were ever asked at hishands—was in March, 1848, pushed forwardby his relatives and councillors to receive andpacify the riotous deputations from the in-habitants of his capital, of his provinces, andcrown-lands, which thronged the halls, andblocked up the stairs of the imperial palace;while all round, in the narrow streets andsquares of the city of Vienna, moved an im-patient and clamorous populace; while thetramp of armed citizens re-echoed from theFreyung, and the shouts of hundreds of thou-sands of men and women from the suburbs andthe country districts rent the air. The deputa-tions, whose unceremonious presence and excitedbearing paralysed the nerves of the monarch,belaboured his ears with splendid phrases, andsounding words of remonstrance. But amidstthe throng, there appeared some men of Hun-gary, who uttered no complaints of past misrule,or remonstrances against present oppression,but who preferred deliberate, specified demandsfor the emperor to grant or refuse at his peril.

When the Presburg Diet received the first

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE DIET. 45

intelligence of the revolution in France, thenews was accompanied by a sudden fall of thefunds. Hungary had too long and too pain-fully suffered from financial mismanagement,and the depreciation of Austrian notes, not tobe alive to the fear of another State bank-ruptcy like those of 1811 and 1814. A revolu-tion in France might lead to another Europeanwar, and with it to another Austrian bank-ruptcy. For the finances of that empire, which,during and after the campaigns against Napo-leon, had been re-established at the expense ofthe nation, were not by any means improvedby a peace of thirty years. What could be ex-pected when armaments and foreign expeditionswere to weigh upon them ? Moved by theseconsiderations, and urged on by the prevailingfinancial panic, a committee of inquiry into theaffairs of the Austrian Bank was demanded bythe member for the city of Baab (M. Balogh),and supported by L. Madarass and Szentkir&lji.Mr. Kossuth was expected to speak in favourof the motion, but to the surprise of theHouse, he opposed it, in a speech which hasjustly been considered as a pronunciamento ofthe new direction at which he aimed in theconduct of the affairs of Hungary.

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He thanked the member for Baab for hiszeal, but doubted its judiciousness. The wantof confidence which had been shown wouldsuffice to warn the government, that a candidstatement of the financial condition of thecountry was a matter of absolute necessity. Thefunds had been lower in 1830 than at the presentseason, and the Austrian Bank was in dangeronly if the government of Vienna persisted in itstraditional policy. If that policy were reformed,to suit the necessities of the time, the bankwas safe. It was to this point that Mr. Kossuthsought to direct the attention of the house. Aradical reform was wanted. Hungary was safe,if it were possible to animate her constitutionalforms with the breath of life; and, to effectthis, it was necessary to change the absolutism,which prevailed in the other Austrian provinces,into a constitutional government. Unless thisbe done, unless Austria discard the arbitraryspirit which pervades her councils, all thegenerous energies and talents of the Hungarianlegislators are wasted in vain endeavours. Andtheir endeavours must needs be vain, unlessthey are supported by the loyal declarations of thevarious nations of Austria.

An address to this effect proposed by Mr.

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THE HTTNGAEIAN DEPUTATION. 4 7

Kossuth was accepted by the Lower House,and, although the Magnates endeavoured toobstruct its progress, it was resolved to sendthe document, and with it a deputation ofeighty members, to Vienna. This deputation,supported by from 250 to 300 of the clients andfollowers of the Diet, embarked on the 14thMarch on a steamer, which bore them to theAustrian capital, where Mr. Kossuth's speech,and the contents of the address, had some dayspreviously been published by the newspapers.Their object was known to the Viennese, whofor the last two days had from petty riotsgradually and almost insensibly proceededto a revolution. The deputies landed amidthe frantic acclamations of an excited crowd,who, true to the German idiosyncrasy whichprevails among the Viennese, admired thewaving plumes and the laced tunics of thenew comers, whom they delighted to cheer withthe Magyar cry ofc Eljen!' Louis Kossuth, thepatriot and liberator, was the chief object oftheir reverence and noisy admiration. Hemmedin on all sides by the crowd of armed citizensand students, fashionably dressed women,soldiers, labourers, and loungers, who filled thenarrow streets; grasped by many arms, and

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48 THE WAR IN HUNGABY.

greeted by a thousand voices, he was all butborne along to the emperor's palace, where theaddress was duly read, while an instant replywas demanded by the impatient crowd whichfilled the Franzensplatz and the Freyung. Theformal expressions of the address were morefully interpreted by the speaker of the deputa-tion. A separation of the government, theadministration, and the finances of Hungaryfrom those of Austria was demanded. The un-fortunate emperor knew not how to refuse. Heintimated his consent, when, at the last moment,his relatives interfered, advising him rather toresist, and risk all, than to pronounce the virtualindependence and secession of the Hungariankingdom. Thus placed between two conflict-ing demands, the monarch, in his tribulation,found, for the first time, the energy to opposethe will of those who had hitherto swayed hisown, and who, he justly considered, had placedhim in a painful and dangerous position. ' AmI, or am I not, the sovereign of this country Vwas his reply to the archdukes, who there-upon retired, and consulted how by secretintrigues they might prevail against the em-peror's weakness and the strength of the Hun-garians. These latter left the presence with

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OF A CABINET. 4 9

a gracious, and, as events proved, a sincereassurance that their demands should be com-plied with. The Palatine was forthwith in-structed to command the formation of a sepa-rate and responsible Hungarian cabinet, underthe presidency of the Count Louis Batthyanyi,and the deputies returned to Presburg greatlyexcited, and with the wildest hopes of thefuture. It was on the occasion of this visit toVienna that Mr. Kossuth held € the crown ofAustria in his hand/ Extravagant as thisassertion appears, it was not an empty boast.So violent was the excitement of the Viennese;so great their desire to imitate the exampleof the populace of Paris, and so hopelesslypanic-stricken and paralysed was the govern-ment, that a much smaller popularity thanthat in which Kossuth revelled, would havesufficed to overthrow the throne of Austria.The Hungarian agitator had to use all thepowers of his oratory to calm and pacify thepeople of Vienna. Had compliance with hisdemands been refused, he had the power,and perhaps the will, to consign the Habsburgsto the fate which befel the members of theOrleans family.

In the interval between the departure ofE

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60 THE WAR HX HUNQAfiT.

the deputation for Vienna, and their returnto Presburg, Mr. Koasuth's speech on Balogh'amotion had done its work at Peath. Thecities of Buda and Pesth, the real capitalsof Hungary, and the centre of its administra-tion, while they applauded Mr. KossutVsspeech, were dissatisfied with his address tothe king, the real bearings of which they wereunable to appreciate. The radical members ofthe aristocracy and of the learned professions,combined with the students of the Pesth uni-versity, held tumultuous meetings, and agreedon forcing the Diet into a more decided line ofaction, or, if that were impossible, to send adeputation of their own to Vienna, there to de-mand an independent cabinet, annual parlia-ments, liberty of the press aud of worship, anamnesty for the political prisoners, and variousother concessions, which Mr. Kossuth's deputa-tion was just then in the act of obtaining. Thenews of the Vienna riots, and of their success,added to the enthusiasm, and stimulated thecourage of these reformers. Violent speecheswere made. Printing presses were seized andnsed for a practical demonstration of the libertyof the press. The Guildhall at Pesth was sur-rounded, and the magistrates compelled to sign

RIOTS AT PESTH. 51

the petitions, and adopt the demands of theradicals. Vast crowds appeared before thegates of the fortress of Buda, demanding theinstant liberation of Michael Stancsics, astate prisoner. The populace were unarmed,whilst the fortress was strongly garrisoned,and provided with a formidable complementof artillery in commanding positions. Butso great were the terror and confusion ofthe Austrian officers, that the demands of thepeople were complied with. The prisonerwas liberated, and borne in triumph throughthe streets of Pesth, and into the Magyartheatre, where the national hymn was sung bymany thousand enthusiasts in and around thebuilding. On the following day (March 16)the rioters proceeded to supersede the autho-rity of the magistrates, and to appoint theirown revolutionary administration. Two pro-visional committees of safety for the city andcounty of Pesth were chosen, and to illus-trate the principle of the equality of religioussocieties, three Jews were elected to sit in thecity committee.

It has been generally admitted that theseboards, the creations of a tumultuous move-ment, made laudable exertions in the cause of

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peace and order, to uphold which they decreedthe organization of a national guard. Thecockades and weapons of this corps were fur-nished by the municipality. Such was theenthusiasm, that not only the able-bodiedamong the inhabitants, but also decrepit oldmen and cripples on crutches, not to mentionhundreds of strangers and visitors, insisted onbeing enrolled among the defenders of the city.They were so enrolled, for resistance to any de-mand was in those days likely to be attendedwith serious consequences.

The excitement at Pesth was increased bythe news of the concessions which the de-putation had obtained at Vienna, and thepopular feeling rose to frenzy, when it be-came generally known that Count Louis Bat-thyanyi had been appointed to the presidency ofthe first Hungarian Cabinet. That nobleman,the descendant of an ancient Magyar family,and one to whose exertions the Habsburgswere indebted for their advent to the throneand for its preservation at sundry periodsof foreign or domestic dangers, possessedin a high degree those qualities which hiscountrymen chiefly respect. His aspect wascommanding, his bearing noble, and his dis-

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COUNT LOUIS fiATTHYANYL 5 3

course had that mysterious brevity which, cou-pled with a fulness, not to say sadness of tone,imparts a meaning even to trite arguments, whileit makes commonplace remarks attractive. Left;in early youth to be 'lord of himself, thatheritage of woe/ Count Louis Batthyanyi wasbred to a soldier's profession in Italy; he tra-velled through various European countries,sojourning in each too long for oblivion, andpassing too quickly for instruction; and onhis return to his native land, he spent someyears overwhelmed with all the cares of amost profuse hospitality. His hereditaryauthority, the power of his wealth, and theinfluence he obtained by its liberal trans-mission into other hands, tempted him, aspleasure palled and ambition awoke, to take aleading part in the affairs of the nation, norwas it long before he was considered as thechief of the liberal opposition in the House ofMagnates. His influence supported Mr.Kossuth's struggles for reform, and to his handsdid the Emperor Ferdinand confide the diffi-cult task of securing the independence ofHungary, and at the same time preserving herfor Austria.

It is to be presumed that the Count Bat-

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5 4 THE WAR IK HUNGARY.

thyanyi was alive to the difficulties of his posi-tion. But if the excitement of a gratifiedambition, and the gratification of an honestand generous patriotism, caused him to over-look those difficulties for a moment, he wasbut too soon and too painfully reminded of thefact, that most lamentable is the lot of thosewho are doomed to mediate between the pastand the future. His first measures touched neu-tral ground, and in them he was borne forwardby the enthusiasm of the day. The impendingdissolution of the Diet, and the expected con-vocation of a Parliament at Pesth, strengthenedthe popular belief that all arrangements werebut provisional and likely to be followed bysome mysterious future good—the vague alcunbene of Dante. Some disturbances were, in-deed, caused by the ' press-law/ which B.Szemere moved, and which was supported byMr. Kossuth. Exorbitant sums, as cautionmoney, were by this law imposed upon thedaily and weekly press.* The Diet acceptedthe bill, but the populace burnt it. The elec-

• 2000Z. was the caution money for a daily, and 1000/.for a weekly paper; while a deposit of 400/. was demandedfor the mere establishment of a printing-press.

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HIOTS AT PRESBUEG. 55

toral law, which was likewise supported by Mr.Kossuth, and opposed by Madarass, Perczel,and Kubinyi, was inveighed against on accountof its restrictions of the franchise. It was con-sidered as a special grievance that this law madeno allowances for the ' qualification of intelli-gence' in favour of the learned professions.But it passed. The Diet appeared at onetime to be alive rather to the prejudices thanto the rights of the people. The Jews, a nume-rous and wealthy class, had been admitted tothe franchise, and to the right of sitting inParliament. The citizens of Presburg protestedagainst this resolution, and the Diet reversedit. The mob, emboldened by its success, pro-ceeded to attack the Jews' quarter, and to burn,murder, and destroy; while in the immediatevicinity of this scene of horrors, the mem-bers of the Diet, assembled in the PresburgCathedral, assisted at the chanting of asolemn Te Deum I in honour of the libertieswhich God had vouchsafed to grant to thenation.

The same scenes were in April and Mayrepeated at Kashau, Eperies, Kerd, Nadaz,and almost throughout Hungary.

Deputations and addresses poured in from

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all parts of the country. The Eesth Committeeof Safety sought to establish itself as an in-dependent revolutionary authority, with a viewof superseding the Diet, until its proceedingswere checked by the firmness and determina-tion of Mr. Kossuth, who publicly and peremp-torily refused to listen to the suggestions ofthe Committee, and its representative, PaulHajnik.

These were some of the difficulties which as-sailed Count Batthyanyi on the part of theHungarians; still graver obstructions wereplaced in his path by the members of the Im-perial family and the officials at Vienna. Thecomposition of his cabinet excited the indig-nation of those who, immediately after the de-parture of the Hungarian deputies from Vienna,resumed their usual influence on the affairs ofthe empire. In that cabinet, B. Szemere wasappointed minister for home, and Prince PaulEsterhazy for foreign affairs; while the de-.partments of justice, war, public instruction,works, and trade, were entrusted to Messrs.Deak,Messaros,Eotvos, Szechenyi,and Klauzal.None of these was a favourite at Vienna, andnone of them was likely to advocate the in-terests of Austria; but the appointment of Mr.

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MR KOSSUTH'S POSITION. 5 7

Kossuth to the important post of minister offinance was most offensive to the feelings ofhis old persecutors, for it was fraught withreal danger to their interests, and to the sta-bility of their government.

Mr. Kossuth, as minister of finance, was notprone to sacrifice the interests of his countryto the necessities of the Austrian exchequer.The military forces of Hungary, placed at thedisposition of one of Mr. Kossuth's colleagues,might at any time be turned against the em-pire. Or, discarding the probability of so ex-treme a case, it could not be expected that theywould for the future be allowed to join theaggressions and support the despotic rule ofAustria in other countries.

Mr. Kossuth was aware of the apprehensionswhich the Austrian cabinet connected with hisperson. He felt that his own position and thesafety of the country were in danger, unless hesucceeded in convincing his enemies at Viennaof his desire to make concessions in their favour.On the aoth of July he exerted all his in-fluence to procure from the parliament avote of subsidies against the Italian insurgents.His was a difficult task. He had to convincethe House of his sincerity in making a demand

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58 THE WAS IN HUNOABY.

which was in direct contradiction to the tradi-tions of his past career. This he endeavouredto accomplish hy a subtle dictinction betweenhia private and public feelings, between hissentiment a as an individual and his duties as &minister. Supported by Eiitvoa and the rest ofthe cabinet, but opposed by Perczel and Teleky,the bill in favour of the subsidies was passed by236 against 33 votes.

But this manifestation of his intentions cametoo late to disarm the hostile measures whicbthe Austrian cabinet and the members of theImperial family had taken against Hungary.Defeated in Italy, opposed in Bohemia, and in-sulted in the metropolis of their country, theHabsburgs showed to the last that stubbornperseverance whichj had it been exerted in agood cause, would entitle them to the highestrespect. While tbe court was compelled to flyfrom Vienna to the mountains of the Tyrol,strenuous endeavours were made to obstructthe development of Hungarian independence,and to neutralize the patriotism of Batthyanyiand the ambition of Kossuth, by the horrorsand dangers of a civil war. For that purposethe members of the Imperial family looked outfor friends in Hungary, and two powerful

THE AUSTRIAN ABMY. 59

allies were found in the esprit de corps.of thearmy and in the discontents and the ambitionof the Croats.

It has always been the practice of the Aus-trian War Office to stifle in their soldiers andofficers old friendships and associations of home,and to prevent their contracting new alliancesin the towns and provinces on which they werequartered. The recruits from Lombardy,Poland, and Bohemia were marcjied to depotsin Hungary and Austria Proper; while thelevies from Hungary and Austria Proper weresent to join the garrisons of the Italian,Polish, and Bohemian fortresses. In caseof an insurrection in any province, thesoldiers, strangers to the language and thegrievances of that particular part of the empire,and who, moreover, as foreigners and servantsof a despotic government, were exposed to fre-quent insults, were at all times ready to actagainst the native population. Their term ofservice was long; the regiments were movedto different and equally foreign parts of theempire, whenever a good understanding andan identity of sympathies seemed to spring upbetween them and the natives. To restraintheir officers from connexions with the provin-

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60 THE WAB IN HUKGART.

rials was more difficult, but the task wasaccomplished by the careful fostering of igno-rance in the young men who aspired to amilitary career in Austria; by a constantwatching of their leanings and connexions, andby their ' dislocation' to regiments in other pro-vinces, whenever, by marriage or acquisition ofproperty, they attempted to establish them-selves in the country in which they sojourned.No one but .a nobleman or a foreigner couldexpect to rise to high command. If the former,his career was promoted by wealth; if the latter,poverty and want of reputation were a recom-mendation rather than a drawback to the claimsof the aspirant. Thus the army came to be anation in itself—a vagrant population, which im-migrated and emigrated, according to the ordersof the War Office. Its members, peculiar intheir language, sentiments, and morals, weredevoted to the system of irresponsible despotism,which maintained them at the expense and inthe domination of the country; and theywere the most uncompromising antagonists ofreform.

In the spring of 1848 the various corps ofthe Austrian army were for a short timeshaken in their allegiance, by the precarious

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COXJKT INTBIGUE. 61

position of their masters, and by the violentexpressions of popular hate which assailedthem. In Hungary, in particular, the Italian,Polish, and German regiments were contentto shut themselves up in their quarters, andto remain quiet spectators of the excesses ofthe populace. In this season of uncertainty,the commanders of fortresses, though ag-grieved by the decree of the emperor, whichsanctioned the authority of the new Hunga-rian War Office, could not decline to deliverup their command into the hands of theagents of Count Batthyanyi. Thus were thefortresses of Leopoldstadt, Komorn, Buda,Peterwarasdin, andEsseg surrendered to Mag-yar officers. But scarcely had the generalpanic begun to subside, when secret orderscame from Vienna to the commanders in Hun-gary, instructing them, ' by prudent manage-ment/ to defeat the measures of the Hungariancabinet. These officers, greedy of favours andrewards, endeavoured by delays, rather than bydirect disobedience, to paralyse the action ofthe new War Office at Pesth, and to ensure thedefencelessness, rather than the defence, of thecountry, at a time when a combination of for-midable powers arrayed itself against Hungary.

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For, obedient to the secretly expressed wishesof the Archduchess Sophia, wife to the heir-apparent to the Austrian crown, the ancienthatreds of the Servians, Croats, and Wallacks,in the border counties of Hungary, were turnedagainst the country. In Transylvania the Wal-lackian population exceeded the Magyars bytwo-thirds, and yet these Wallackians wereexcluded from the Diet of that province. InUpper Hungary, where the original inhabitantsof the country, the Sclavonian Slowacks, hadsought refuge from the violence of the invaderArpad and his hordes, the numerical differencebetween Magyars and non-Magyars was equallygreat; and much discontent prevailed amongthese descendants of a conquered race againstMagyar dominion, arrogance, and that insult-ing temper which has always characterized thesons of Arpad in their dealings with the con-quered and alien populations, and whichreceived a new impulse by the easy triumph 'which Mr. Kossuth obtained over the Austrianoppression. The discontents that were rifeamong the Slowacks, were lashed into actionby Hodza, a Protestant clergyman at St.Miklos, in Liptau county, who, with a horse-whip in his hand, compelled the peasant popu-

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JOSEPH JELLACHICH. 6 3

lation to take the pledge of temperance and ofenmity against the Magyars and the Jews.With him was Hurban, ex-priest of Szobotist,near Miava, who, from pot-house tables andscaffoldings, reminded the Slowacks of theancient glories of their kingdom, of Svatoplukand Libussa, and the white horse which theMagyar invaders offered in scorn as purchase-money for the rich plains of southern Hungary.Upon these he exhorted them to make a razzia.He succeeded in collecting at Miava a largecrowd of smugglers, labourers, and carmen,whom he led to frightful jacqueries on themanor-houses and the Jews of Wagenstadl,Brezova, and Szobotist.

But more dangerous to Hungarian prosperitythan the Wallackians of Transylvania, or theSlowacks of the north, was another branch ofthe great Sclavonic family, the Croats, whosecountry, although a province under the crownof Hungary, was governed by a 'Banus/ orStadtholder, an officer of high rank, whotook precedence after the chancellor of thekingdom. The Croats, though favoured withmany valuable privileges and immunities, hadon several occasions suffered from Hungarianviolence and pride; and after the constitu-

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tion of the Batthyanyi cabinet, they werespecially aggrieved by the attempts which theparliament made in favour of the Magyarlanguage. In their endeavours to repel thisencroaching policy, they were supported andurged on, not only by secret agents sent fromVienna, but also by their Ban, the BaronJoseph Jellachich. This man, the chief pro-moter of the war in Hungary, born in 1810, atPeterwarasdin, and son of an Austrian officer,received his education in a military college,where he was noted as pre-eminent in all mili-tary and gymnastic exercises. Promoted to alieutenancy of dragoons, he passed some yearsamidst the dissipations to which Austrianofficers have at all times been addicted, until,broken in health, he was compelled to retire toAgram a prey to a painful and dangerous com-plaint. Restored to health, he served again inVienna, and on the Croatian frontier, where, ascolonel and commander of the 1st Borderregiment, he headed a razzia into TurkishBosnia, and suffered defeat in a skirmish nearPosvid.

Early in 1848 the unsuccessful chief of theBosnian expedition was appointed to the office ofBan of the three kingdoms of Croatia, Dalma-

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JELLACHICH'S INTRIGUES. 65

tia, and Illyria. His first official act was ahostile demonstration against the Batthyanyicabinet. He travelled through the country,addressed the populace, and exerted all his in-fluence to foment a war between Hungaryand Croatia. From his head-quarters at Agramhe gave the signal for a general rising of theSouth Sclavonians. The Croats, Serbs, andSlowacks were, by his exertions, united into agrand anti-Magyar league. The Diets of thevarious Sclavonian provinces were convoked,against the express prohibition of the Hun-garian parliament; and while the Servianpatriarch, Rajachich, dressed in the robes ofhis sacred office, and bearing a large cross,travelled through the country, preaching acrusade against Hungary; while the AustrianColonel Mayerhofer collected a band of Turkishmarauders on the Bosnian frontier, and urgedthem on to murder and incendiarism: the BanJellachich proceeded to expel the Magyar com-missioners, and to quarter his troops on somedistricts of the Banat whose inhabitants wereknown to favour the cause of Hungary.

The Hungarian cabinet thus threatened,sought protection and support from the

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emperor; and, on the loth of June, CountLouis Batthyanyi obtained the publication ofan Imperial manifesto, by which the Croatsand Sclavonians were informed that the Banhad been suspended from all his dignities andoffices. In this document, the Croats weretold that their ingratitude had been a grievousdisappointment to the emperor's paternalheart. ' Persons/ says the emperor, c thereare who persecuted your fellow-citizens, andwho, by intimidation, forced them to leavetheir country, because they attempted to en-lighten you as to the facts of the case/

The emperor proceeds to state that his deepconcern was heightened by the apprehension,that the man whom his grace had overwhelmedwith tokens of his royal bounty, and whom hehad appointed to be the guardian of the law inCroatia—that the Baron Joseph Jellachich,had given himself up to this criminal sedition,and, led away by factious animosity, had daredto conspire against the union of Croatia withHungary. He was consequently a traitoragainst the emperors crown and dignity. Thecharges against him are his disobedience, hisattempts to seduce the lawful authorities tothe same disobedience, and the violent and

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MANIFESTO AGAINST THE BAN. 6 7

illegal measures by which he compelled theCroatians to hostile demonstrations againstHungary, The emperor further accuses theBan of having persecuted the friends of theunion between Croatia and Hungary, of havingdeposed them from their offices, and tried themby court-martial; of having prevented thelegally appointed lord-lieutenants from enteringupon their duties; of having seized the publicfunds, compelled the people to take arms, anddriven them to acts of murder and rapineagainst the Hungarians. And lastly, the Banis accused of conniving at an insult offered tothe Archduke Palatine, and of mutiny againstthe emperor's commissioner, the Baron Hra-bowsky. For these and other high crimes andmisdemeanours the Baron Joseph Jellachich isdeprived of all his dignities, commands, andoffices, and summoned to surrender to theemperor's commissioner, the Baron Hrabowsky,to show cause why he should not be treated asa traitor and a rebel.

Two days after this manifesto obtained theemperor's signature, the Ban Jellachich lefthis capital of Agram, and proceeded to thecourt at Insbruck. He was accompanied byColonel Denkstein, and the Counts Nugent,

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Louis Erdody, and Draskovich. The emperor'sproceedings at Insbruck, on the ioth of June,could not be known at Agram on the 12th ofthat month. But as the manifesto againstthe Ban was the result of long and earnestsolicitations on the part of the Count LouisBatthyanyi, there is reason to believe thatJellachich was informed of the dangers of hisposition, and that he went to Insbruck forthe purpose of securing the support of hisfriends at court. This view is justified by thefact, that not only was the € traitor and rebel'allowed to approach the emperor's court, buthe was admitted to an audience by the Arch-duke Francis Charles, heir-apparent to thethrone, and the Archduchess Sophia, his wife.Nor could all the protests of the Hungarianministers prevail against the powerful influenceof the emperor's relations; and on the 19th ofJune, Ferdinand of Austria was induced to ac-cept the homage of a man whom, nine daysbefore, he had accused of the worst crimeswhich can be preferred against a subject anda public functionary. If proof were wantingof the duplicity of the Imperial family, it isfurnished by the fact, that no reproach, noaccusation, was made against the Ban; and

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THE SERVIAN INSURRECTION. 69

that the Archduke John, whom the Germansat that time elected to the regency of theircountry, (chiefly because he had married thedaughter of a publican, and because he likedlow company,) wrote a letter to the declaredenemy of Hungary in which he addressedhim as ' My dear Banus.' Nor were measurestaken to revoke the manifesto against theBan. That document was published and cir-culated, while he whom it denounced receivedthe strongest marks of his master's esteemand favour.

While these intrigues were spinning at theemperor's court in Insbruck, the results ofother intrigues became still more apparent anddangerous to the public safety. The Servians,who form the majority of the inhabitants of thecounties of B4cz, Torontfil, Krass6, Temes, Ba-ranya, and Syrmia, had at an earlier periodmanifested their desire to secede from the king-dom of Hungary: they demanded a separateadministration, diet, and king's lieutenant.The above-mentioned counties were to be con-stituted as a separate crown-land—the ServianWojewodina. Not only were these demandspreferred, but measures were taken to dispensewith the consent of the Hungarian Cabinet.

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The priest Rajachich was elected to be patriarchof the Wojewodina; and Suplicacz, a celebratedwarrior, was appointed to the Wojewodeship.The Servians, reinforced by Colonel Mayer-hofer^s bands from Turkish Servia and Bosnia,illustrated their idea of national independenceby frequent and terrible raids on the Magyarvillages within their domains and on theirborders. Murder and rapine were the rule ofthe day, and the Servians showed that they,like most continental nations, believed thatliberty means an unbounded licence and abso-lute dominion over the lives, properties, andopinions of all other men.

The measures which the Hungarian cabinetadopted to pacify the Servians were judiciousand liberal. It convoked an assembly of theirestates at Temesvar, where it proposed to hear,and, as far as in it lay, to comply with theirdemands. This peaceable policy might haveproduced a favourable result, but for the secretagents of the Imperial family. The old hatredof the Sclavonians was excited by tales of pastoppression, by anecdotes of words of scorn andmenace, which were said to have fallen fromthe lips of the Hungarian ministers, and

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THE SEBVIAN INSURBECTION. 71

their fanaticism was aroused by wild andvague hopes of independence, not only fromHungary, but from Austria also. They werereminded of their ancient nationality, lan-guage, and religion, as distinct from Magyarprotestantism and Austrian Catholicism; theywere artfully told that if the power and influ-ence of the Magyars were reduced, the emperorwould crown their boldest wishes, and weldthe three kingdoms of Croatia, Dalmatia andUlyria into one great Sclavonic empire. Itrequired all the ignorance and enthusiasm ofthe natives of that part of Europe to believethese statements. But believed they were;and the Sclavonians, a nation of instinctivecruelty and greed, believed, moreover, that toexterminate the Magyars, and appropriate theirgoods and chattels, was the surest means to jus-tify the emperor's good opinion and encouragehis benevolent intentions towards themselves.To confirm them in this conviction, money,arms, and ammunition were sent from Insbruck,while, at the same time, exhortations, injunc-tions, and threatening manifestoes against theSclavonians, were signed by the sovereign, andpublished in Hungary. In June, when the

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violent proceedings of the armed bands ofServians compelled the Hungarian Cabinetto protect the lives and properties of thesubjects of the kingdom, they instructedGeneral Hrabowsky to pacify the insurgentdistricts. That officer, at the head of a strongforce of soldiers and National Guards, at-tacked the Servians, and expelled them fromKarlowitz, the newly-created capital of theWojewodina. He allowed himself to be out-witted by granting them an armistice of four-teen days, for the purpose, as they alleged, ofsettling the dispute. But, while he remainedat Karlowitz, the Servians fell back upon thewalls and moats of an old Roman camp, whichwas already occupied by 8000 of their own na-tion. Reinforcements came from all sides, andat the expiration of the armistice, they had theadvantage, not only of numbers, and of variousstrong positions, but, moreover, of chiefs andleaders, whose enthusiasm kept pace with thefanaticism of the common militiamen. Theirline of defence leant on the Danube, with thecities of Semlin, Pancsova, and Orsova, asdepots and rallying points; they infested theleft bank of the Danube and either bank of theTheiss, and commanded the road from Pane-

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THE SERVIAN WAR. 7 3

sova to Temesvar. But their strongest pointswere the line of Roman encampments from theDanube to the Theiss, and the fortifications ofTitel, St. Thomas, Perlasz, and Alibun&r. Onthis line, and in these positions, they had anarmy of 30,000 men, and among them 4000auxiliaries, the scum and refuse of TurkishServia. They had 100 pieces of artillery. Theirforces were commanded by the two Servians,Stratimirovich and Knichanin, and by theAustrian Colonel Mayerhofer.

The Hungarian forces which were to opposethese formidable bands mustered from 17,000to 18,000 men, foot, horse, and artillery. Butthe majority of these troops consisted of Aus-trian regiments and battalions, commanded byAustrian officers, who had for the time beingbeen placed at the disposition of the Hun-garian Cabinet. These officers were inclinedto protract the war, which they would not ter-minate in favour of Hungary. Their delayscaused a terrible onslaught which the Serviansmade (26th June) on the Magyar and Germaninhabitants of the city of Neusatz, where un-armed citizens, women, and children wereoverpowered, seized, and tortured, while thegarrisons of the Roman encampments, issuing

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7 4 THE WAR IN HUNGAKY.

from their strongholds, devastated the countryin all directions. Thus compelled to action, theHungarian Cabinet reinforced their army withstrong levies of National Guards, until in thefirst days of July their forces amounted to80,000 men, with sixty field-pieces.

And now commenced an extraordinary andalmost inexplicable warfare. To all appearancethe Servians were besieged in their extensivelines of fortification. But, in fact, their posi-tion was not that of a besieged garrison, forthe lines of the Hungarians extended onlyalong their front, while the country in therear was open, and they were free tb at-tract reinforcements and provisions to anyextent. Nor were the attacks against theirlines attended with success ,* for the Austrianofficers in command of the Hungarian forcesdid all in their power to defeat the troops whomthey should have led on to victory. In theattack on St. Thomas, the Hungarians werecommanded by General Bechthold, who left thefield of battle, and ordered a general retreat, atthe moment when his forlorn hope had carriedthe Servian entrenchments at the point of thebayonet. Having thus done his utmost todaunt the courage and confuse the minds

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THE SERVIAN WAB. 75

of the soldiers, General Bechthold resignedhis command. That the position of the Ser-vians was not impregnable, and that theHungarian troops were sufficiently strong andbrave to carry them, was shown at Perlasz,where Major Vetter and Colonel Ernest Kiss,at the head of 4000 men, attacked and stormedthe Servian entrenchments, captured theirartillery, routed their garrison, and compelledthem to fly to Titel. The most important cap-ture on this occasion was a document, whichleft no doubt of the treachery of the AustrianCabinet. In the quarters of the Servian com-mander a letter was found from the AustrianField-Marshal Lieutenant Spanoghr, com-mander of a division at Gratz, announcing themarch of two batteries and transports of am-munition to Karlowitz, and promising furthersupplies of artillery.

. It. was under the influence of such eventsand revelations that, in the parliament at Pesth,Mr. Kossuth gave notice of his intention tomove a resolution for the ' defence of thecountry/ The n t h of July was the day ap-pointed for that motion, and from its nature,and the events of the time, it was justly pre-sumed that the agitator intended to crush

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anything like opposition by an extraordinarydisplay of those oratorical powers which after-wards gained him respect and admiration incountries foreign to his sentiments, ideas, andlanguage, but which, when brought to bearupon his own nation, proved irresistible andoverwhelming. Hence the galleries and eventhe stairs of the parliament-house werecrowded with the idle, the curious, and thepatriotic, and large masses of the populacesurrounded the building itself. They wereanxious to watch the result of Mr. Kossuth'sspeech, though they could not expect to hearthe speech itself. On this and many otheroccasions, the admirers of that extraordinaryman have compared him to one of our greatestand most impressive speakers—namely, LordChatham. The comparison holds good in morethan one respect; for, like Lord Chatham, Mr.Kossuth moved the pity of his audience by anappearance of extreme debility, and by thereport of his physical sufferings. Ambitionseemed extinct in a mind which craved noughtbut rest. The influence of office, the power ofdominion, and the triumph of a mind whichswayed and bent the minds of a nation atits will, appeared so many sacrifices, which,

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KOSSUTH'S SPEECH ON STATE OF NATION. 77

though painfully, were freely offered to thesalvation of the country. It has been said ofLord Chatham, that there was persuasion inhis flannels, conviction in his crutch. Therewas much of Lord Chatham's influence inthe compassionate murmurs which greetedMr. Kossuth's appearance, when his slightand emaciated form, supported by the armsof two friends, was seen creeping throughthe crowded hall to the tribune. There wasmuch of Lord Chatham's persuasion in hishollow eyes, the high furrowed brow, the palewan face, and the air of intense hopelessexhaustion with which he leant forward toacknowledge the thundering cheers which forawhile drowned the low, plaintive tones of hisvoice.

He said he came to implore them to save thecountry. That country was in danger! TheHouse knew it. Croatia was in open rebellion,which was not justified either by the past or thepresent. The Hungarians had always sharedwith the Croats their rights and privileges.The last Diet had made great sacrifices in favourof the Croatian finances and nationality. Theirlanguage had been protected. The Ban'spower had been secured and extended. He had

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78 THE WAB IN HUNGAEY.

been invited to take his seat at the councilboard, and assured that what he asked in rea-son should be freely granted. But the policyof the Croats was incomprehensible. He (Mr.Kossuth) could understand that a nation shouldwoo liberty at the point of the sword; but aninsurrection in favour of despotism was an in-scrutable mystery to him. Croatia played thepart of the French Vendee—it was all sham-loyalty, and real servility, on the part of theleader; while the people were led away by thescheme of an Austro-Sclavonian monarchy.

It was much the same with the Servians.As for the Austrian government, it repented ofits late concessions, and sought to recover thesword and the purse-strings of the nation—thedepartments of War and Finance. The restwould follow. The Croatian movement wasconnected with this scheme, and the last days,in particular, had revealed many secrets. Ademand had come from Vienna for the Ca-binet to pacify the Croats at any sacrifice,and for supplies to be sent to Jellachich. He(Mr. Kossuth) had refused to furnish a declaredrebel with the sinews of war; whereupon theAustrian ministers had sent their 'dear rebeFthe sum of 150,000 florins.

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SPEECH ON THE STATE OF THE NATION. 7 9

1 Mr. Kossuth proceeded next to sift theforeign relations of Hungary. England wasfavourable; France and Germany were doubt-ful. But favour or no favour, all the hopes ofHungary were in herself. ' That nation alonecan live, whose vitality is strong within it.There is no future for a nation which relies forsafety on foreign help/ And, therefore, thespeaker demanded that the House should votean extraordinary credit of 42,000,000 florinsfor the mobilization of an army of 200,000 men.Of these, 40,000 were, to be enrolled at once,the rest at the discretion of the ministers.

As Mr. Kossuth approached the climax ofhis motion, after a speech of more than twohours, his pallor increased; he stammered,leant forward, and fainted away. Whateverthe divisions and party feelings of the House,they were overpowered by the last breaking tonesof that voice. Paul Ny&ry, a member of the op-position, rose, and with outstretched arms cried :We consent! And in a moment all the mem-bers followed his example, and with their handsraised to heaven, they repeated Ny&ry's words :We consent 1 Their tumultuous movements,their voices, and the cheerful words of hisfriends, roused Mr. Kossuth from his trance.


80 THE WAE IN HUNQABY.

He rose with an effort, and with streamingeyes and hands humbly crossed on his breast,concluded his speech in faint and tremblingaccents, thanking the House for their ready vote,and imploring their patience. He bowed be-fore the nation's greatness. If its perseveranceequalled its patriotism, even the gates of hellshould not prevail against Hungary.

Mr. Kossuth's 3peech on his motion of then t h July is considered the best and moat ex-tensive display of his oratorical powers. Onthat day the fate of the nation was really andtruly decided. Other orators have been for-tunate if they could influence the decision of aconstituent assembly. Mr. Koasuth did more,he dictated that decision. And it appears fromthe concurrent testimony of all the witnesses ofthat remarkable scene, that so great was theexcitement of his hearers, that all, friends andfoes, conservatives and liberals, rushed forwardto grasp his hand, and to thank him for theresolution he had wrung from them. It wasimpossible to proceed with the business beforethe House, which had to be adjourned until themembers had vented their feelings in franticcheers and sobs, and frequent embraces! Thatthese physical demonstrations of universal love

BATTHYANYl'S LOYALTY. 8 1

and goodwill were produced by Mr. Kossuth'smanner, rather than by the weight of his argu-ments, was shown by the tardy repentance of theopposition. Strenuous endeavours were madein subsequent debates to pledge the Cabinetto a decisive policy. Mr. Kossuth, says hisbiographer Horn, ' would have met the opposi-tion half way, but in the Cabinet councilshis influence was paralysed by Count L.Batthyanyi/ That high and generous noble-man could not believe in the treachery of theAustrian Cabinet; and though frequently dis-appointed, he returned with unshrinking andpersevering loyalty to his attempts at reconcilia-tion. Neither the proclamations published bythe Ban of Croatia, in which that officer boastedof Austrian support, nor the statements of theAustrian Secretary-at-War, Count Latour, whomade public exhibitions of his joy at the suc-cesses of his ' faithful Servians' and ' belovedcomrades/ could persuade him that his sove-reign's friends and servants conspired againstthe peace and the prosperity of the nation.He, accompanied by F. Deak, the ministerof justice, posted to Vienna to solicit a repe-tition of those solemn assurances which theImperial family had given at an earlier and

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8 2 THE WAR IN HUNGABY.

more dangerous period. But the time of pro-mises was past. The Hungarian ministerswere delayed in the capital, but could notobtain an audience. Their suit received anindirect answer in a memorial which (August21) was sent from Vienna to Pesth; it con-tained the first definitive expression of theAustrian demands. It tried to prove thatthe concessions of March were incompatiblewith the Pragmatic Sanction, that they un-dermined the stability of the Austrian empire,and ruined its provinces, and that the emperorhad not the right to make those conces-sions. The Hungarians were asked to resignthe advantages which had fallen to theirshare during the convulsions of the Austrianrevolution.

In reply to this memorial, Mr. Kossuth in-duced the parliament to send a deputation ofone hundred members of the Lower House,and of twenty magnates, to inform the emperorof the sentiments of the nation, and to de-mand most energetic measures against therebellion of the Serbs and Croats. The depu-tation left Pesth on the 5th September: itsinstructions were to proceed to Vienna, de-

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A LAST APPEAL. 8 3

mand an audience, and return unless thataudience were immediately granted. In Viennathe deputies were received by an excited popu-lace, which welcomed them with cheers andother expressions of sympathy. They saw theemperor, who read his reply (contrary to theAustrian custom) from a paper prepared for theoccasion. It was evasive. The deputies leftthe palace, and ornamenting their hats with redplumes, in token of war, they returned to Pesth,where the result of this last endeavour wasforthwith communicated to the parliament.The deputies brought from Vienna a copy of apublic letter which the emperor (Sept. 4) hadaddressed to the Ban of Croatia. It thankedthe Ban for his zeal and loyalty, and for hisdesire to conciliate the Hungarian Cabinet, andexpressed a conviction of the groundlessness ofthe charges of high treason which had beenpreferred against him. The Ban was absolvedfrom all inquiry, and exhorted to proceed on thepath he had taken ' for the maintenance of theintegrity of the Hungarian Crown, and the pros-perous progress of its crown lands/ This lettercaused the resignationof the Batthyanyi Cabinet,which was accepted by the Palatine, who in-

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formed the Assembly of his intention toappoint another premier. Mr. Kossuth re-monstrated. The Palatine's message was illegal,for it wanted the counter-signature of a respon-sible minister. He pointed out the defect, butforgot to mention the remedy, and, to defeatthe Palatine's plans, he resumed his office.Another Cabinet was formed on the spot, withD. Pazmandy and Paul Ny&ry of the LowerHouse, and Perenyi of the Magnates. Adeputation was sent to the Palatine to protestagainst his message, and obtain his sanction of thenew Cabinet. The Prince demurred, but aftersome negotiations, Count Batthyanyi wasagain found willing to resume office. His firstofficial act was the publication of importantand decisive intelligence. Count Adam Teleky,who commanded on the Drave, had sometime previously announced his intention ofretreating upon Pesth, since the Ban Jella-chich was preparing to cross the river.The completion of that intelligence had nowarrived in a letter from the commissioner,L. Csanyi.

t The Ban of Croatia, with an army of40,000 men, had crossed the Drave, thefrontier of Hungary Proper. His soldiers

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THE CROATIAN INVASION. 8 5

devastated, the country along the whole lineof his inarch. The Hungarian forces werein full retreat, and the sword and fire ofthe Croats threatened the walls of GreatKanisha.

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CHAPTER III.

Composition of JeUachieh's Army.—Evil Repute of theCroats.—Measures of Defence.—Tetaky'a Retreat.—Tho Palatine.—Hia Flight.—Lambert's Mission,—Kiot lit Pesth.—Assassination of Lamberg.—SkirmUhat Snkuro.—Breach of the Armistice.—Jellacliich theAlter Ego. — The Vienna Riots. — Appointment ofPrince Windiahgratz.—Battle of Shwechat.—ArthurGorgoj.—The Hungarian Hoble Guard.—Koaauth'sAgitation.

1MIE Bail Jellachich crossed the frontiers of• Hungary ou the 9th of September, from

Kopreinetz, with the centre of his army,mustering 20,000 men. His right wing, of10,000 men, was commanded by Geueral Hart-lieb, who threatened the fortress of Essegjwhile 10,000 forming the left wing, stood atWarasdin, under the command of GeneralShmiedl. Hia reserves, under Genera! Kemp-ten, were at Kreuz, and consisted of 10,000men. The centre of Jellachieh's army wascomposed of Austrian regiments of the line,which were equipped and paid by Count Latour,the chief of the Vienna War Office, Hiaright and left wings and his rescn'ea consisted

EVIL REPUTE OF THE CBOATS. 87

I

I

of Croat levies aud Szeretshaners, savage[troops, whose cruel and predatory diai>ositionhas become proverbial in the annals of Ger-many, anil who have through many generationsbeen trained to the sanguinary contests of theTurkish border. They are Feared as the mostformidable allies of the Honsc of Hahsburg,and execrated not for their deeds on the field

battle, but for the ruthlcssness of theirwarfare against the weak and the defenceless.•In the religious wars against Sweden, and in

e couteat with Prussia for the possessionSilesia, the princes of Austria let theseds of midnight assassins and marauders

loose on the German countries ; plunder, con-flagrations, the murder of cliildreu, the mutila-tion of aged men, and violence done to women,marked the path of the ' red-cloaked' soldiers.They massacred their prisoners—or worse, theytortured them to death. Such were the tradi-tions. That their manners and morala werestill the same had been Bhown by the eveuts ofthe Lombard insurrection in March, 184K, AtMilan the Croats burned their prisoners alive,and women of every rank and age were firstviolated and then cut into pieces. That BaronJellachich was permitted and encouraged toattack and overrun Hungary with troops whose


practices had acquired such an infamous noto-^riety, proved the determination of the ImperialHouse to reconquer Hungary at any price. Noother invasion was so terrible as this. No otherattack could have roused all ranks, classes, andpolitical parties to so powerful a feeling ofdanger, and to so firm a resolution to repelthe invader. Jellachich, indeed, prefaced hismarch by a proclamation to the Hungariannation, informing them that he came to crushthe criminal intrigues of a faction, and tofree the country from the yoke of a hated,incapable, and rebellious government. Hepromised to respect all privileges; and pro-tested that he came as a friend and a brother.But the friendship of the Croats, and thebrotherhood of the red-cloaked Szeretshanerswere so formidable, that the inhabitants of thecountry protested against these insidious ad-vances. Mr. Kossuth, acting on the spur ofthe moment, proposed and obtained the sanc-tion of parliament to several important resolu-tions. The issue of five-florin notes,* the crea-

* Notes of ten shillings. Usually, the bank-notes inAustria are of a lesser amount—viz., of two and fourshillings.

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MEASURES OF DEFENCE. 89

tion of a parliamentary army of Honveds, orf Defenders of the country/ and the incorpo-ration of the Hungarian regiments into thisnew and essentially national force, were alldecreed in less than an hour. It was furtherresolved to invite the Hungarian soldiers inItaly and elsewhere to return to their countryand join the Honved.

These were revolutionary measures. Butthey were justified by the terrible dilemma inwhich the parliament was placed. They hadeither to submit to the discretion of Jella-chich and the mercy of his borderers, orto take their salvation into their own hands,by an appeal to {he fears, the passions, theexasperation of the moment. It is almost aninsult to the Cabinet of Vienna to believe thatthe violent and revolutionary measures whichMr. Kossuth proposed, and the parliamentsanctioned without a single dissentient voice,either surprised or dismayed the Imperialfamily. Although the events, and the all butfatal result of the war were not foreseen, itwas expected that the Croatian invasion wouldhurry the Hungarians into illegal proceedings,and thus furnish the Imperial governmentwith a pretence for the subjugation, and per-

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90 THE WAK IN HUNGABT.

haps the incorporation of Hungary. To shakeoff the humiliations of the year 1848—to turndefeat into victory, and resignation into con-quest—to have but receded in order to per-form a more astonishing feat of strength andagility, was, indeed, a task worthy of theambition of a family which gloried in that partof its history which connected it with Florenceand its proverbial policy. There are strongreasons to suspect that the Archduchess Sophiaand her favourites intended to punish Hungaryfor resisting Jellaehieh, and Jellaehieh for at-tacking Hungary. For although they did notconceal their enmity against the HungarianParliament, they were at great pains to give toevery one of the Croatian leader's measures theappearance of having been taken without suffi-cient authority, and at his own peril. Theofficial documents of the time mention theCroatian invasion as 'a quarrel between theBan and the Hungarian Parliament;' and al-though the Baron Jellaehieh was subsidized bythe Vienna War Office, and privately encou-raged by confidential letters from the Im-perial family, he complained, in his corre-spondence with Count Latour, that he 'wasplaced in a false position/ and that he wished

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TELEKY'S RETREAT. 91

€ the government would publicly acknowledgehim as their agent/

While he forwarded these complaints toVienna, he proceeded with his expeditionagainst Great Kanisha; his right wing investedEsseg, and compelled that fortress to hoist theemperor's colours. This done, the Croats, notcaring to enter a fortress, which offered butsmall temptations to their predatory propen-sities, left the place in the hands of its oldcommander and garrison, and proceeded to themore profitable task of devastating the neigh-bouring districts. No obstacles whatever wereplaced in their way by Count Adam Teleky,who commanded four battalions of the line,four battalions of gardes mobiles, three squad-rons of hussars, and about 9000 men, landsturmor levies from the counties of Tolna, Shiimegh,and Szalad. At the approach of the Croatianarmy, Teleky fell back upon Keszthely, on thenorth-western banks of Lake Balaton;* andbut for the opposition of his officers, he wouldhave continued his retreat, and left the capitalsof Buda and Pesth at the mercy of the Croats,These latter advanced to Szemes, on the south-

* The German name is * Flatten See.'

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92 THE WAR IN MDNOABY.

western bank of tlie same lake, where the BanJellacMch established his head-quarters.

Thus threatened, exposed by the cowardiceof the commanding general, and apprehensiveof treachery at the hands of the other militaryleaders, who seemed disposed to break thetrammels of their divided allegiance, Mr. Kos-suth considered that the parliament might stillretaiu the services of the trained officers andtroops, if the Palatine could be induced to takean active part in the war against the Croats.The presence of an Austrian prince wouldlegalize the proceedings of the army, and compelthe doubtful and wavering among the officers tounconditionally support the cause of Hungary.This view, liowever plausible, did not meet thefacts of the case. The combination of hostileinfluences, which first paralysed and afterwardscancelled the Emperor's decree against Jella-chich, was even more irresistible in its strugglewith a junior prince of the Imperial house, andthe military chiefs were accustomed to look forfavour, patronage, and bounties, not to a Viceroyor the temporary commander of a detachedcorps, but to the Vienna War Office. Mr. Kos-5Uth, who in the sitting of 15th September pro-

THE PALATINE. 93

posed that a deputation should solicit thePalatine's assumption of the chief commandof the army, was startled when the prince,without a moment's hesitation, intimated hisreadiness to proceed to the camp. His motiveswere suspected, and three commissioners ap-pointed to accompany him, and watch hismovements. Maurice Perczel was among them.That impetuous young man had, in the earlypart of the movement, taken the lead againstBatthyanyi's Cabinet. But the progress ofevents and the defeat of Batthyanyi's peaceablepolicy tended to prepare the future alliancebetween the hostile factions. Mr. Kossuthshrank from confiding so delicate a missionto the zealous and undiplomatic Perczel; butthe urgency of the case admitted of no delay,and other men, better qualified for the office,declined accepting it.

Some delay was, however, caused by theprince, who allowed three days to pass beforehe assumed the functions of an office whichhe had accepted with. so much eagerness.Before he reached the head-quarters atKeszthely, he had communicated with theArchduke Francis Charles, husband to the

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Archduchess Sophia, and he had received hisiustructions. The Archduke approved his as-sumption of the chief command, and carewas taken to publish the Emperor's and theArchduke's assent to the steps taken by thePalatine. But that prince was secretly in-structed neither to offer battle to the Bahnor to accept it. In other words, he was tofollow the lead of Adam Teleky and the rest ofthe Austrian generals: he was to paralyse theforces of Hungary, and retreat at the advanceof the Ban.

Amidst the double-dealing and the treacheryof that fatal period, it is a relief to find at leastone member of the Imperial family of Austria,less dishonest, but also unfortunately lesa firm,than the rest. It was clearly the intention ofthe Archduke Francis Charles that the Palatineshould by his presence overawe the resolutionof the popular leaders; that he should con-centrate the armed forces, compel them toinaction, and surrender the country and thecapital to the Croatian army. The Pala-tine Stephen, wavering between the dictates ofhie heart and his honour, between the guiltyfamily which claimed his services and thecountrywhose riglits he had sworn to protect, found a

THE PALATINE'S FLIGHT. 95

temporary expedient in negotiations; and whenthese proved unavailing; when his attempts toobtain a personal interview with the Ban Jella-chich were met with suspicion and insult; andwhen the Croats proceeded to extremities, heleft the camp and returned to Buda. On thefollowing night, the Prince, Archduke andPalatine, the Viceroy and Regent of Hungary,suddenly left his palace. He fled from Budawithout a single attendant, and in a mean dis-guise. Seated on a peasant's cart, he crossedthe Hungarian frontier into Austria. Otherprinces, in that eventful year, fled like convicts,alone, disguised, on foot, and under the pro-tection of night. But they made their escapefrom the fury of a mob which hunted on theirtrack. The Archduke Palatine's case was sin-gular. Perhaps it was weak not to abdicate inplain daylight; but the trials which of his ownfree will he confronted at Vienna were more ter-rible than Mr. Kossuth's violence—more har-rowing than the Count Batthyanyi's pleadings.His desertion was a breach of the familycompact. His relations would not listen tohis justification, and scorned his entreatiesto spare the country which had become dearto him. He tendered his resignation. The

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offer was greedily accepted, and measureswere taken to carry out the designs of thedynasty by the appointment of a more energeticand unscrupulous regent. Such a man wasCount Lamberg, a landed proprietor in Hun-gary, and a field-marshal lieutenant in thearmy, imbued with its traditions, and an un-flinching champion of those high and arbi-trary principles of government which have sofrequently brought Austria to the brink ofruin. Count Lamberg was appointed to thepost of Extraordinary Commissioner for Hun-gary, entrusted with the chief command ofall Hungarian troops, national guards, andbands of volunteers, instructed to proceed tothe scene of war, to terminate the hostilitiesagainst the Ban Jellachich, and to restore peaceand order in Hungary 'as a part of the Austrianmonarchy/ He was supported by an Imperialmanifesto, ordering the soldiers of the Hunga-rian army to € return to the Austrian standard/and to eschew all acts of hostility againstJellachich.

Count Lamberg's appointment was illegal,for it imposed a dictator while the parlia-ment was assembled, which alone could sanc-tion the grant of extraordinary powers. The

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LAMBERG'S MISSION. 97

orders to the army were equally illegal, for theyreversed the Emperor's former decrees, andshowed a deliberate intention to regain byviolence what had been lost by pusillanimity.

The news of these hostile measures reachedPesth on the 27th of September, and in anextraordinary sitting of the parliament, L.Madarass moved, and Mr. Kossuth seconded,a resolution against Lamberg's usurped au-thority. It was carried without a debate andwithout a single dissentient vote. A procla-mation was next proposed by Mr. Kossuth,and sanctioned by the House, denouncing theappointment of Count Lamberg as illegal andinvalid; instructing the troops to opposehis commands, and declaring that he, andthose who assisted or obeyed him, should beconsidered as false traitors, and punished ac-cordingly. If the Count Louis Batthyanyihad been present, his influence might havemodified these violent measures. The newsof the resolutions of the House reached himin the camp, whither he had gone to meetand protect Count Lamberg. Unable to re-verse the decree of the House, he sought toneutralize its action, and prevailed upon theparliamentary commissioners, who were charged

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with its publication, to delay that fatal act.Count Batthyanyi believed the Dictator, obe-dient to his master's instructions, would makehis appearance at the head-quarters of the army,and from that army he wished to conceal theexistence of the resolutions against CountLamberg, which he considered as that noble-man's death-warrant. He could not pre-vent their publication at Pesth. That citywas filled with volunteers from all partsof the country. Savage herdsmen from theplains of the Theiss, peasants from the moun-tain districts, boatmen from the Lower Danube,in strange and uncouth dresses, wielding theirrustic weapons; volunteers of the free corps,fall of martial ardour and eager to flesh theirmaiden swords; exiled Poles, the bloodhoundsof revolutions, whom accident or instinct col-lects at all scenes of carnage; vagrant gipsiesand travelling Jews thronged the streets of thetwo capitals, and crowded the bridge whichjoins Buda to Pesth. They knew of the Em-peror's decrees; they knew the doom which theparliament had pronounced against the tool ofthe Cabinet, and they watched anxiously andimpatiently for 'the courier who was to bringthe news of the traitor's arrival in the camp.

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BIOT AT PESTH. 99

This rude, suspicious, and half-maddenedcrowd swayed tumultuously from one partof the two cities to another, as the mis-givings of individuals, taken up at random,swelled into rumours, while every insigni-ficant item of intelligence was distorted andmagnified into an appalling event. At onetime, the shouts of the populace were hushedinto absolute silence, as the tale crept from lipto lip that Jellachich had left his cantonments—that he was marching upon the capital—that the Croats were at Stuhlweissenburg.Again it was said an Austrian conspiracyhad been discovered. The commander of Budaintended to steal the Hungarian crown, thecrown of St. Stephen, and the Regalia, whichwere connected with so many cherished tra-ditions and wild superstitions. The crownof St. Stephen was to be taken to Vienna!The populace turning in horror and dismayto oppose this sacrilegious scheme, was metby another, distorted fact. Count Lamberg,the dictator, was at Buda—the commander ofthe fortress submitted to his authority—he hadordered the gates to be closed—the batterieswere about to open upon Pesth and the Parlia-ment House. As this news spread through the

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100 THE WAR IS HUNGARY.

crowd with the rapidity of lightning, the infu-riated people, uttering wild cries, and brandish-ing their swords, pikes, scythes, and pickaxes,rushed to the bridge, to occupy the fortress andprevent the closing of the gates.

On the bridge they met Count Lamhergon hia way to Pcsth, where he intended toannounce his mission to the parliament. Hewas recognised, and dragged into the road. Hehad been denounced by Kossuth, and sen-tenced by the parliament. In vain did the un-fortunate man sue for mercy; vainly did heplead his duty and his master's orders] andvainly was the Emperor's decree, with theSovereign's seal and sign-manual, held forth byhia trembling hands. It was a scene of unut-terable confusion: a storm of oaths, the crashof arms, a long, piercing death-cry—and as thedense masses severed and rolled back, theydragged the Emperor's lieutenant at their heels,& distorted and mangled corpse. The murderersran through the BtreetB of Pcsth, holding hightheir blood-stained weapons, and one man, it isasserted, entered the Parliament House, hissword reeking with the blood of the victim.

There can he no doubt that the death ofCount Lamberg at Pestb, as well as the assassi-

ASSASSINATION OF COUNT LAMBEBG. 1 0 1

nation of the Prince Lichnowsky and MajorAuerswald at Frankfort, are chargeable on theabsurd interpretation of the doctrine of popularsovereignty, which in 1848 was rife throughoutthe countries of the continent. The advocatesand parasites of popular power had so long andso loudly proclaimed that the will of thesovereign people was a sacred law, and that thepeople's will was the voice of God, which mustbe right, that every part and fraction of thepeople claimed the sanctity of inspiration forits whims, passions, and prejudices. Butthe burden of the guilt does not lie onlyon the agitators of that fatal period: no!part of it fells on those who, by precept andexample, accustomed the continental nationsto consider sovereign power, no matter withwhom it rested, entitled to defy all lawshuman and divine, and to believe that thestrong hand must do right, whatever it maydo. Those who revile Mr. Kossuth for di-recting the weapon which struck down CountLamberg, should not spare Francis II. whoforged it.

There is no evidence to show that Mr. Kos-suth and the members of the Pesth parliamentinstigated the populace to the murder of Count

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Lamberg, although they placed themselves inthe position of ' accessories after the fact/They voted, indeed, an address to the Emperor,lamenting the unfortunate accident, and theyinstructed the magistrates of Pesth to arrestand punish the assassins. But due diligencewas not used in the execution of this decree;the assassins were allowed to go at large andboast of their crime. So notorious were they,that, at a later period, they were with thegreatest ease captured, tried, and convicted bythe Austrian authorities.

For Mr. Kossuth it may be pleaded that thecriminals were protected by the passions of thepopulace, and that the dangers of the timecompelled the government to concentrate thewhole of its strength against the Ban Jellachichand his army, which had actually advanced toStuhlweissenburg, while General Moga, whosucceeded Count Adam Teleky in the commandof the Hungarian army, had withdrawn hisforces to Velencze, about nine miles from Buda.To save the capital from the violence of theCroats had now become a duty. The countrywas, moreover, without a legal government, forCount Batthyanyi's return to office had notobtained the emperor's sanction. Another revo-

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SKIRMISH AT SUKURO. 103

lutionary measure appeared unavoidable. Mr.Kossuth originated that measure, when he pre-vailed upon the parliament to entrust the execu-tive power to an Extraordinary Commission forthe Defence of the Country, of which he wasappointed the president, and whose members,with the exception of Messaros and Pazmandy,were taken from the leaders of the radical party.Count Louis Batthyanyi stood .aloof. Thatnobleman refused to direct the war against hissovereign's troops, but he volunteered as a pri-vate soldier to carry arms in defence of hiscountry.

On the 29th of September, the day afterLamberts assassination, the Hungarian armywas drawn up on the high level land betweenSukuro and Pakozd, to defend the road fromStuhlweissenburg to Buda. Their right wingrested on Csala, their centre occupied theSukuro road, and their left wing and reserveleant on Velencze. They mustered 16,000men, troops of the line, national guards, andvolunteer corps,, with a few irregular battalions.They had thirty-six field-pieces. This smallforce was the nucleus of that great army, whicha few month later threatened the existence ofthe Austrian empire, and which remained un-

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101 THE WAR IN HCNGAEY.

conquered even when the power of Bussia cameto the rescue of the Hababurgs,

The Ban Jellachich brought 30,000 men andfifty-eight pieces of artillery into the field. Heattacked the right wing of the Hungarianswith the intention of turning their flank anddriving them into the marshes of Vcleueze.His centre sought to force the Hungarian,centre on the Sukuro road, and advance uponBuda. But the Croats shrank from theattack; and when, after four hours' skir-mishing, the Hungarians showed no disposi-tion to leave the field, the Ban retreated toStuldweisseuburg. General Moga, who bi-vouacked on the field of battle, retreated onthe following day, and pitched his camp atMartonvasar. HU partial success, magnifiedby popular rumour, and announced ns asplendid victory, roused the peasantry againstthe invaders. The tocsin sounded from allthe steeples in their rear. Intimidated andobstructed on his line of retreat, the Bansolicited and obtained an armistice of threedays. According to the rules of VBJT, whichall civilized nations know and respect, the belli-gerent armies must, during an armistice, re-main in the exact positions which they occupied

BREACH OF THE ARMISTICE. 105

at the time of its conclusion. It is a breach offaith either to advance or to retreat. The BanJellachich pledged and forfeited a soldier'shonour, when, on the 1st of October, he turnedaside, and led his army in forced marchestowards the Austrian frontier. On the secondday he reached Kisber, and desired admittanceinto Komorn. The gates of that fortress wereclosed against him. Marching onwards throughRaab, he crossed the frontiers of Austria Properon the 6th of October.

According to the terms of the truce, thearmistice expired on the 3rd of October. Onthat day the Hungarian forces were led againstStuhlweissenburg, where they found an emptycamp. But the Croatian reserves, which, com-manded by the generals 'Roth, and Phillipovich,were marching to join Jellachich, arrived toolate to accompany him on his flight. Theyreceived the news of his march on the road,and turned aside to follow him into Austria.At Ozora, where they attempted to cross theriver Sio, they were met by the nationalguards of Tolna, and compelled to surrenderto a corps of 6000 men, under Colonel M.Perczel and Major Arthur Gorgey. On the6th of October, these two young officers

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106 THE WAK IN HUNGARY.

received the swords of two generals and fifty-one officers of various grades, and returnedto Pesth with 8000 prisoners, twelve fieldpieces, and a large number of baggage andammunition wagons. Another Croatian forceof 3000 men, which had been left in charge ofthe depots of Great and Lesser Kanisha, wasattacked and routed by the national guards ofthe counties of Zala and Eisenburg. Of the40,000 troops which the Ban Jellachich ledinto Hungary, he brought but 15,000 intoAustria; and so poor and neglected was thecondition of this remnant, that the dis-affected among the Viennese said the Ban'ssoldiers had lost their shoes by dint of hardrunning.

The court and the cabinet had, meanwhile,over-speculated on Jellachich's success. Hisbulletins showed him marching from victoryto victory. He announced on the 38th of Sep-tember, that Buda and Pesth were to be occu-pied within the next three days. His des-patches to that effect reached Vienna simul-taneously with the news of the assassination ofCount Lamberg. To reward the success oftheir ally, and to retaliate upon the peoplewhich defied the court and murdered its agents,

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JELLACHICH THE ALTER EGO. 1 0 7

it was resolved to strike another and a decisiveblow against the cabinet, the parliament, andthe nationality of Hungary.

On the 3rd of October, the Emperor was in-duced to sign a manifesto, which dissolved theparliament, reversed its resolutions, proclaimedmartial law, and the suspension of ordinaryjurisdiction throughout Hungary, and investedthe Ban with the fall power and authority ofan Imperial Commissioner and Alter Ego ofthe Sovereign, so that whatever the Ban ofCroatia should ' order, regulate, determine,and command/ was to be considered as€ ordered, regulated, determined, and com-manded' by the Emperor himself. Letterswere addressed to the military comman-ders in Hungary, ordering them to obeythe Ban's instructions in all things, and tosubject all their measures to his approval.Care was taken to defeat the constitutionalopposition of the Pesth parliament by a strictadherence to forms; and Baron Recsey, alieutenant in the guards, consented, for adonation of 1600Z., to endorse these violentedicts. The rest, it was thought, might safelybe left to the victorious Jellachich. But assome resistance was expected in the Magyar


108 THE WAE IN HUNGARY.

districts, measures were taken to convey troopsand artillery into Hungary. These auxiliarieswere to leave Vienna on the 6th of October.On their march through the town, they weresurrounded by a mob, and entreated not tofight against the Hungarians, since the Austrianliberties were bound up with those of Hungary.The soldiers wavered and hesitated. The officersin command urged them on. Violent lan-guage was resorted to : blows followed. Somecompanies fired upon the populace, others sup-ported the people. The labourers, nationalguards, and students, supported by the muti-neers, put the troops to flight, stormed thearsenal and the War-office, and killed CountLatour, the secretary at war, whose duplicityand treasonable correspondence with Jellachich,though long suspected, had but lately beenexposed. The emperor and his family ned toMoravia, and on the morning of the 7 thOctober, when the fugitive Ban approachedVienna, he was met by the news of a successfulrevolution.

Foremost among the charges which the Aus-trian writers in the Cabinet and the press haveadvanced against the Hungarian parliament,stands the accusation that the Vienna revolu-

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THE VIENNA KIOTS. 109

tion and the assassination of Count Latourwere provoked by Hungarian advice and bribes.The Coulit Louis Batthyanyi, in particular, hasbeen charged with having, by means of FrancisPulszky, the most subtle and active of Mr.Kossuth's partisans, corrupted the Austrianpress, parliament, and soldiery. This accusa-tion remains unsubstantiated. Though oftenrepeated, no credible evidence has been broughtforward in support of it; and the Austrianwriters, while they state €it is asserted by arespectable witness—a person well acquainted withthe state of the case deposes*—have never beenable to support their allegations by quoting asingle witness whose name and character wouldconvince an impartial and conscientious judge.Their gratuitious assertion that three of themost important classes of society—Austrianjournalists, legislators, and soldiers—were opento wholesale bribery, proves the degradationof a government which volunteers to defameits own nation to colour an act of privaterevenge.

If proof were wanting to show that theVienna revolution of October, 1848, was anunpremeditated act of popular zeal and fero-city, it might be furnished by the conduct



of the Viennese and the Hungarians after theeventful day which established an impassablegulf between the Habsburg dynasty and itssubjects. The citizens of Vienna, astonishedand awed by their success, took no steps tofollow up their victory, to defeat the restof the Emperor* s troops, which, commandedby General Auersperg, were encamped withingun-shot of the capital, and throw the disor-ganized band of the Croats back upon theirHungarian pursuers. These last, in their turn,might have marched into Austria,.occupied thecapital, and detached armed bands into the dis-affected districts of Styria, Austria Proper, andGallicia. The two combined might have car-ried the fiery cross from one extremity of theempire to the other. Nothing of the kind wasattempted. The revolutionists of 1848 pro-fessed to despise despotic power, and the delayand duplicity of diplomatic transactions; butthey were as arbitrary in their sway, and asdilatory and intriguing in their proceedings, asthe governments which they sought to displace.The Viennese wasted their time in sendingambassadors and deputations to the Emperorat Olmiitz and to the Hungarian general, Moga,at Parendorf. General Moga sent messengers

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APPOINTMENT OF WINDISHGRATZ. I l l

to treat with the common council and theparliament of Vienna. The Viennese wishedthe Hungarians to occupy their town with-out a special invitation. The Hungarians pro-fessed to respect the Austrian territory, andthough desirous of occupying the capital, theywaited for the Vienna parliament to give thema bill of indemnity.

While compliments and professions of sym-pathy and goodwill were thus being bandiedbetween the head-quarters of the two insurrec-tions, the Imperial family took measures toregain their power, and revenge themselveson their enemies. German, Bohemian, andPolish regiments marched upon Vienna, underthe command of Prince Windishgratz, a Mo-ravian landowner and officer of high rank,whose services during the insurrection atPrague, in the summer of 1848, had been sosuccessful that he was considered the main-stay of the house of Habsburg. This gene-ral's troops, supported by the forces underAuersperg and Jellachich, invested the capitalon all sides, and stormed the suburbs at thepoint of the bayonet. The fortified city capi-tulated after a siege of eight days; but thecapitulation was broken when the news of the

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]12 THE WAS IN HUNGARY.

advance of the Hungarians spread among thebesieged, and the insurgents, reduced by ageneral attack of the Imperialists, were treatedwith revolting cruelty.

General Moga, who would gladly haveshirked the responsibility and danger of at-tacking the Emperor's army, was, by thedistrust and the exasperation of his officers,compelled to cross the river Laytha, whichforms the frontier between Austria Proper andHungary. On the evening of the 29th Octolier,he bivouacked at Shwadorf, and the followingday he led 16,000 regular troops, 14,000 irre-gulars, and 90 pieces of artillery against theAustrians at Shwccbat. The united armiesof Windishgratz, Jellachich, and Auerspergnumbered 80,000 old troops, with 250 cannon.The Imperialist generals were resolute andelated with success. The Hungarian leaderoscillated between two dangers; he feared a vic-tory almost as much as a defeat. The Austrianshad the advantage of being strongly entrenchedat Shwechat, Manusworth, and Kaiaers Ebers-dorf. The second of these positions wasstormed by the right wing of the Hungariansunder Colonel Barczay and Major Guyon;while their centre, under Colonels Lazar and

BATTLE OF SHWECHAT. 113

Gorgey, advanced upon Shwechat; and theirleft wing, under Colonel Repasy, attacked theheights of Him berg. In the first hours of thebattle, the Imperialists endeavoured to out-£ank the Hungarians on their left,—a dan-gerous movement on so long a line. This wasshown by the success of the enemy, who, in

pite of their numerical inferiority, continuedfto advance, until at noon Prince Windishgratz•^concentrated his artillery in and around Shwe-

from whence be opened a murderous firethe Hungarians, silenced their artillery,

and routed their young militia. General Mogaretreated, while Colonel Itepasy aud Major

L Guy on kept the Imperialists in check; oulie last day of October, his army re-croased

Laytha, and returned to Parendorf. Thelanflucceasful leader was compelled to resign,

Mr. KosButh, as President of the Committeeof Defence, gave the command of the forces toColonel Gorgey.

Arthur Gorgey, at one time a subaltern in the; Austrian array, resigned his commission whennoL patriotic motives coultl have prompted that step.Poor and unprotected, it is to be presumed thatthe slowness of a military career jarred upon hisimpatient ambition. Though no other profes-

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sion was open to him, he sacrificed the scantypay of a continental subaltern with the samecynical indiflFerence which he displayed on othermomentous occasions, and he devoted himselfto a life of misery and privations. Hl-dressed,fed, and lodged, he passed several years in thechemical laboratories at Vienna and Prague.Even at that time, his military bearing, tall andactive figure, and saturnine aspect, the rough-ness and studied brutality of his address, hisneglected hair and beard, and the torn andfilthy raiment which appeared a matter ofchoice rather than of necessity, awakened thecuriosity of strangers, and amused and per-plexed his friends. He preferred, or pretendedto prefer, the coarsest food, and even of this heate sparingly. He would leave his wretchedattic to sleep on a stone floor, or on the hardand frozen earth. In all this there was muchdiscipline, but also much temper and affecta-tion. He delighted in appearing mysterious,unaccountable, impenetrable. The obtrusivecontempt with which he affected to regardsocial customs and the opinions of men be-trayed his thirst for notoriety.

When Jeliachich's invasion threatened Hun-gary, Gorgey offered his services to the Bat-

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. ARTHUR GORGEY. 115

ihyanyi Cabinet. They were readily accepted,and he was charged with the organization andthe command of a free corps, and instructedto defend the banks of the Danube, near theisland of Csepel. While on this station, histroops captured Count Zichy, a wealthy noble-man and descendant of an old Hungarianfamily. This man was taken under circum-stances which warranted the gravest suspicions.The documents found on him left no .doubtthat he carried on a treasonable correspon-dence with the enemy, and that he wasin the habit of informing Jellachich of theplans and movements of the Hungarians.The practice of espousing the national causeopenly, and of secretly communicating withthe Cabinet of Vienna, or the Croatian invaders,had become general. Such was the indif-ference or duplicity of the Austrian officers,who commanded almost all the native corps,that an extensive system of espionage wascarried on by numbers of officers, noblemen,and gentlemen, who, doubting the end, wishedto gain the good opinion and to merit the thanksof either party. The rules of war of all nationsknow but of one punishment for a traitor and aspy. In the present instance, the culprit was a

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nobleman, a member of the Emperor's house-hold, and the scion of an illustrious and powerfulfamily. Major Gorgey saw nothing but the spy.The Count Zichy was tried by court-martial,condemned, and executed. The government atPesth confiscated his possessions, and the resultproved that Gorgey's act was as judicious asit was just. It terrified the trimmers, anddrove them to the Imperial standard, wherethey did no harm to the cause of Hungary.-Hence Gorgey had a twofold claim on Mr.Kossuth's confidence. His operations againstthe Croatian reserves, and his conduct atShwechat, showed that he, at least, wouldnot dally with the enemy. The 'murdererof Count Zichy/ as the Austrian journalscalled him, was a doomed man, unless theHungarian struggle proved successful. Noother native officer had given equal proofs ofzeal, energy, and devotion. Mr. Kossuth'sselection of a commander-in-chief, was, more-over, highly flattering to the national Magyarparty, and to those Hungarians who had servedin the Austrian army. This class of personsreceived an important addition to their num-bers by the wholesale desertion of the Empe-ror's Hungarian Noble Guard, who at an early

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THE HUNGARIAN NOBLE GUARD. 117

period of the struggle left their barracks atVienna with the hope of greater licence andsplendid fortunes in the ranks of the nationalarmy. The services of these young men werehighly prized by the parliament. Favoursand promotions were lavished upon them;nor were the motives suspected which in-duced these military adventurers to discardthe Habsburg colours for the Hungariantricolore.

Indeed there was little time for reflection.After the fall of Vienna, Prince Windishgratzpushed his outposts to the banks of the Laytha.Jellachich's Croats, again provided with armsand ammunition, were ready for the field.Large masses of troops advanced from Bohemia,and the Gallician garrisons detached their super-numerary battalions against the defiles ofJablunka. Troops from Styria approachedLake Balaton. General Puchner occupied.Transylvania. The Servians under Suplicaczthreatened the Banat and the Bacska in thesouth. The Hungarian army, dispirited by itsdefeat at Shwechat, was still disorganized.Mr. Kossuth travelled through the country,seeking, by moving appeals and fiery speeches,to create a public opinion among the illiterate

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118 THE WAB IN HUNQAEY.

peasantry, and rouse tlicm to reaistance againstthe power of Austria.

The friends and eulogists of tLat remarkableman have alternately extolled his administrativegenius, his political sagacity, and his rare and8ubtle diplomacy. But they have scarcelydone justice to his most brilliant talents andmost prominent qualities. It is impossible tofollow Mr. Kossuth's career without becomingconvinced that, as an agitator, he was superiorto any demagogue of ancient or modern times.lie has often been compared1 to Sir, O'Connell,whom he surpassed in singleness of purpose,earnestness of feeling, and blindness of faith inthe mission which he believed himself predes-tined to perform. At the commencement ofhis careerj bo created public opinion amongthe upper classes of hia countrymen by esta-blishing a newspaper press. He inspired andorganized parliamentary parties; he definedand concentrated their action, and, even as aminister, he favoured and strengthened theopposition by an appearance of official modera-tion. But it was the second part of his taskwhich called forth his chief energies. Greatas the power of the press is in England,its influence is next to nothing in the east of

MR. KOSSUTH'S AGITATION. 119

Europe. The population of the counties onthe Theiss and Danube; the Magyar peasantsand herdsmen, the vagrant gipsies, and thetrading Jews are alike strangers to the arti-ficial sympathies of civilized society. Even thefew who have learnt to read are impressiblerather by the ear than by the eye. In ad-dressing himself to the great mass of his na-tion, Mr. Kossuth discarded the press, and,travelling from county to county, and fromtown to town, convening popular assemblies,and appearing in public wherever he went, hespoke to the pride, the prejudices, and thepatriotism of his countrymen, elevating hisdiction to the wild poesy of their ideas, andappealing to Magyar Isten, to that peculiardeity which guides the destinies of his chosenpeople, the Magyars. He reminded hishearers of the aggressions and spoliations ofthe foreign usurpers, and told them the timehad come when the Hungarians must be afree people or a despised race of outcasts onthe face of the earth. The impression ofthese speeches was powerful, enduring, almostineradicable. They awoke the dormant ener-gies, they directed the enthusiasm, and con-centrated the discontents of a nation, which

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now, for the first time, was taught to trace in-dividual sufferings home to national calamities,to visit the misdeeds of its agrarian tyrants onthe heads of their foreign abettors, and to con-sider the independence of their country as cer-tain to be attended by all those blessings ofharmony and plenty which tyros in politics loveto dream of in some ideal Utopia. Nationalguards, militia, and free corps rose, as if bymagic, in the track of the Agitator, and Mr.Kossrith, of all men, may boast that it was histo realize the poet's idea of an impossibility,and to c stamp soldiers from out the soil/

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CHAPTER IV.

Prince Wiadishgriitz.—His Plan of Operations.—Delu-sions.—The and December, 1848.—A Declaration ofBights,—Hunter of the Belligerent*.—Windisligriitz atPreabnrg1—Hetreat from fiaab.—Battle of Moor.—Men-dacutns Bulletin*.—Retreat to Debreczin.—Arrest ofCount Biitthyanyi.—Combat Ht Tetenz.—Ocoupation ofBuda and Posth.

A LFRED, Prinee "Windishgratz, has been•£•*• the object of much undeserved praise andblame. His siege and conquest of the opentown of Vienna have been compared to someof the most brilliant achievements of ancientand modern times. He has been accused ofhaving, by unnecessary delays, permitted theHungarians to recover from the shock of thebattle of Shwechat. It has been said, that withtoo high an opinion of his own station and

I talents, he entertained a proportionate con-tempt for the Hungarian leaders. These charges

I are founded upon the circumstantial evidenceI of the Prince's character and career. The dc-I BCendant of an ancient house, bred to the

stately courtesies of the Imperial palace, in-k-vested with command in early life before he


had learned to obey, and grown grey amidstcourtly festivals, the chase, and the dissipationsof the mess-table, his vision limited, ancj hisideas ground down to triviality by his exclu-sive intercourse with one class of society only—and that class, perhaps, the least instructed,and certainly the most ignorant of the neces-sities and duties of practical every-day life—thePrince Windishgrfttz was incapable of under-standing the causes and appreciating the re-sources of a popular movement. Stern, haughty,and reserved from his earliest days, as he grewin age and power, he sought to ape the most pro-minent, but least essential qualities of the Dukesof Wallenstein and Alva. Governor of Prague,in the summer of 1848, when that city became aprey to the horrors of an ultra-national insurrec-tion, the Habsburgs had to thank his sullenfirmness for the preservation of the secondcapital of their empire, and with it, of thekingdom of Bohemia. The bombardment ofPrague, and the easy conquest of Vienna, werenot calculated to give him a high opinion ofinsurrectionary tactics. The plan for an in-vasion of Hungary had been drawn up byCount Latour. Its leading features talliedwith the schemes of Prince Windishgratz, and

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PLAN OF OPERATIONS. 123

with his views of the strength and power of re-sistance of the Magyar leaders. According tothis plan, the object to be kept in view waa, notto re-conquer Hungary, and expel Mr. Kossuthand his party, but to surround them on all sides,to invade the country from all quarters, to snarethe leaders as in a net, aud leave them no choicebat death or unconditional surrender. Theframers of this scheme anticipated immediatesuccess, and prepared for the most deliberaterevenge. In the north-east of Hungary, alongthe frontiers of Austria, Gallicia, Moravia, andStyria, regiment after regiment waa posted, untilthe whole line became a vast camp. An army of65,000 men was concentrated in and aroundVienna, with directions to advance on the mili-tary roads on either bank of the Danube, andoccupy Bud a and Pcsth. A small corps of (jocomen, under General Simunich, left its canton-ments in Moravia, and entered the valley ofthe Lower Waag, for the purpose of effectinga junction with a corps at Tyrnan. Anothercorps of 9000 men, then in Silesia, and com-manded by General Gfitz, was to pass throughthe defiles of Jablunka into the valley of theUpper Waag, and to occupy the mountaindistricts and cities of Shemnitz and Kremnitz;


while General Shlick's corps of 24,000 men,quartered in Gallicia, received orders to marchthrough the defiles of Dukla upon Eperies.

In the west, General Puchner, with 32,000men, was in possession of Transylvania. Fromthat province, he was commanded to enter thevalley of the Maros, effect a junction withthe garrison of Temesvar, relieve the fortressof Arad, and occupy the Banat; while, inthe south, the Servian Landsturm of 30,000men, rose to occupy the Baczka, and assistGeneral Puchner in reducing Szegedin andVasarhely., The Generals Trebersberg andDahlen were to advance in the south-east, byway of Funfkirchen, and General Nugent, with12000 men, from the east—i.e., from Styria,was to occupy the districts round Lake Balaton,to intercept the retreat of a Hungarian corpsunder Perczel, and generally to prevent the junc-tion of the Hungarian forces in the south on theDrave, and in the north on the Laytha. Thesearrangements were complicated, uncertain, anddilatory. It took some weeks before all the corpswere apprised of the Commander-in-chief's in-tentions, before the weaker corps had receivedtheir reinforcements of fresh levies from Bohe-mia and Italy, and before they were all sup-

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DELUSIONS. 1 2 5

plied with ammunition, provisions, and themanifold requirements for a winter campaign.The Hungarian leaders expected no expeditionbefore the return of spring. Mr. Kossuth,writing to Gorgey, on the 5th December,says:—

r I cannot believe that WindishgrStz willattack us before the end of the winter. Bythat time, I can have an army of 60,000 men,with 200 guns. I am more than ever convincedthat you and I are destined to save the country,as a reward for which service, I hope to passthe rest of mjr days in some rural retreat as afarmer; while you, general, will, I trust, liveto be professor of chemistry/

While Mr. Kossuth professed hopes whichwere too modest to be sincere, the AustrianCoininander-in-Chief wasted some valuable daysin the puerile occupation of collating and pub-lishing a hue and cry after Mr. Kossuth, hiswife, the Generals Gorgey, Perczel, Messaros,and other members of the Hungarian parlia-ment, declaring that the said persons wererunning about and hiding themselves, andoffering rewards for their apprehension. Tojustly appreciate this measure it must be con-sidered that Hungary was in arms, and that

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Mr. Kossuth reigned more absolute at Pesththan his sovereign and lord at Olmiitz.

That unfortunate monarch felt the reins ofpower fast slipping from his grasp. His de-bility and utter helplessness had for yearspast made him an object of pity to his people,and of scorn to his relatives. Yielding, lessto the superior wisdom than to the superiorstrength of those who surrounded him, he had,ever since the commencement of the greatEuropean convulsion, been hurried into actswhose consequences lay beyond the range ofhis vision. Those consequences—the devasta-tion of his fairest provinces, the rebellion ofhis most loyal subjects, the death of CountLamberg, the Vienna insurrection, and the as-sassination of his Secretary-at-War—appearedto him like so many acts of Divine vengeance.The Nemesis of history, whose awful retributionis a mystery to the eyes of the cunning and thewise, was revealed to the gaze of this idioticprince. His family were bent upon wreakingtheir vengeance on Hungary. He wished butfor peace. He would not consent to the war.All entreaties, all threats (for so great wasthe decline of his powers that even threatspassed unresented), received no other response

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THE 2ND DECEMBER, 1848. 127

but the moaning cry, ' My oath! my oath!—I have sworn a holy oath!' He clung to thatoath in obstinate conscientiousness, and refusedto sanction the annihilation of Hungary, be-cause he had sworn to respect her constitution.

It is impossible to say what scenes wereenacting in the secret chambers of the palaceat Olmiitz during the last week of November,1848. Early on the 3rd of December, thesubjects of the Austrian crown were startled bythe news of an important state act. On the2nd December—the day which, three yearslater, became a fateful day in the annals ofthe French nation—the members of the Im-perial family, the ministers of the crown,and the military chiefs of the Empire wereassembled in the great hall of Olmiitz Palace.Prince Shwartzenberg, the premier; CountStadion, his colleague and chief supporter; Dr.Bach, at one time a successful barrister andagitator in the manner of Kossuth, but nowGreat Justiciary of the Empire; Mr. Bruck,whom the revolution had raised to the Presidencyof the Board of Trade; Prince Windishgratz;the Baron Jellachich, resplendent in scarletand gold as general of the red-cloaked Szeret-ahaners, surrounded the Archduke Francis

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Charles, heir-apparent to the throne; theArchduchess Sophia, his wife; and the Arch-duke Francis Joseph, his son, then a boy of.eighteen. The Emperor entered, pale, de-jected, and resigned. He repeated, with afaltering voice, the formula of abdication,which the privy council had drawn up forthe purpose. The Archduke Francis Charlesnext resigned his claims to the throne. Ferdi-nand, for the last time exercising a sove-reign's power, surrendered the crown to hisnephew; 'because/ as stated in the formula,1 the necessities of the time required the ener-gies of a younger man/ That evening, thedeposed monarch left Olmiitz, and proceededinto a temporary exile at Prague.

Francis Joseph of Austria signalized his ad-vent by two important edicts. His first pro-clamation, announcing his assumption of thepurple, stated his 'firm resolution of main-taining the splendour of the crown;' andfor that purpose he relied 'chiefly and im-plicitly on the tried gallantry, loyalty, andperseverance of his glorious army/ His secondedict was directed against Hungary. Hedenounced the 'rebellious few/ who, bytheir terrorism, compelled a most loyal nation

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A DECLABATION OF EIGHTS. 129

to revolt; but he declared that that nation hadforfeited its privileges and constitution; andthenceforward Hungary must be consideredan integral part of the Austrian monarchy.Prince Windishgratz was commanded to reduceit to that state, and unlimited powers weregiven him for 'the due punishment of therebels/

The German and Bohemian subjects of theempire received the news of Ferdinand's resig-nation with amazement, but without opposition.Austria Proper was overawed by a hundredthousand bayonets. The Bohemian Czechs,with that fatal animosity of race which, in alldomestic dissensions, constitutes the firmestbasis of# the Habsburg dynasty, rejoiced inthe prospect of the downfall of Hungary. Theparliament at Pesth alone protested againstFrancis Joseph and his usurpation of theCrown. Although dissolved by the edict ofthe 3rd of October, the sittings of that bodycontinued; and on the motion of L. Madarass,a declaration was voted, asserting the peculiarcondition of Hungary as a separate kingdom,its rights to its constitution and to the lawsmade or assented to by the nation. They pro-tested, further, that no family arrangements

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respecting the Imperial throne of Austria couldlegally affect the Royal crown of Hungary;that a vacancy of the Hungarian throne waspossible only in case of the demise of the legallycrowned king, and that in such a case the heirto the throne was bound to sign a coronationtreaty, to take his oath to the constitution, andto accept the kingdom of Hungary and thecrown of St. Stephen at the hands of thenational delegates. And finally, they flungback the reproach which the new Emperor hadcast upon them, by insinuating that their KingFerdinand was the victim of a rebellious con-spiracy, and.g those who submitted to the autho-rity of Francis Joseph were to be considered astraitors to the country/ •

Measures were taken to support this parlia-mentary defiance. Whatever troops and bandsof volunteers could be collected were sent tosupport the various corps on the frontiers.General Gorgey, with 30,000 men and 60 field-pieces, protected the border against the mainbody of the Imperialists. His head-quarterswere at Presburg.

General Meszaros, with 14,000 men and 3aguns, opposed General Shlick in the northerncounties. Another force of 14,000 men and 30

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MUSTER OF THE BELLIGERENTS. 131

guns, under General Kis, occupied the Bacskaand the Banat; and the Pole, Bern, who offeredhis services to Mr. Kossuth, was sent to Transyl-vania, with instructions to create an army, andto dear that province from the Austrian troopsand the Wallachian levies under GeneralPuchner.

Of the fortresses, Arad and Temesvar werein the hands of the Imperialists, hut Esseg,Peterwarasdin, and Komorn were held bynational troops and officers.

The total of the Imperialist forces amountedto 110,000 men and 2$6 guns. The Hun-garians had 58,000 armed men, one-half ofwhom were irregulars, and iao field-pieces, themajority of which were hardly fit for use. Theircavalry was excellent, though light, and at adisadvantage when opposed to the helmetedand cuirassed troopers of the Imperial army.Their regular infantry, commanded by officerstrained in the Austrian ranks, could standits ground against equal numbers of Im-perial troops; but their volunteer corps andbattalions of Honveds were, at that earlyperiod of the war, badly armed and clothed,andv in spite of their enthusiasm, unableto cope with the superior discipline, steadi-

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ness, and perseverance of old soldiers. Itwas clearly the interest of the Imperialists todraw their enemies into a general and decisiveengagement. The Hungarians were equallyinterested in prolonging the war, in exposingthe Austrian army to the fatigues of a longmarch and the inclemency of the season, andin harassing them by a petty and irregularwarfare, which is most annoying and destruc-tive to veteran troops, trained to the compli-cated manoeuvres of the parade ground.

On the 15th of December, all preparationsbeing made, the signal for a general inva-sion of Hungary was given by Prince Win-dishgratz, whose army crossed the frontiernear Brack, on the Laytha. On the followingday he fought his first battle on Hungarianground, and took Parendorf, after a violentcannonade, which compelled the Hungarianforces to retreat upon Raab, while the Im-perialists occupied Wieselburg. On the sameday an Imperialist column advanced upon Pres-burg, and entered Theben without encounteringopposition. General Simunich's corps, march-ing from Nadaz, attacked Tirnau, where ColonelGuyon, an Englishman,—the Major Guyon ofSchwechat,—commanded a detachment of 2000

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WINDISHGRATZ AT PRESBURG. 133

men. He might have fallen back upon Pres-burg, or upon the marshy banks of theWaag: but obedient to Gorgey's orders hegallantly held out against General Simunich'scorps of 9000, and after an engagement oftwo hours, he was surrounded on all sides.In this distressing situation, Colonel Guyonwas saved by his reckless bravery. Concen-trating what remained of his corps, he cut hisway through the dense masses which occupiedhis line of retreat, and, with a loss of 800men and five guns, he brought his troops toKomorn, where, on the 17th, he was joined bythe garrison of Presburg. On the evening ofthat day, the army of Prince Windishgratzoccupied the whole line from Oedenburg toTirnau, and measures were taken for the paci-fication of that part of the country. Courts-martial were established at Presburg; troopswere quartered upon the friends and relativesof the Hungarian leaders and members of par-liament; detachments of horse scoured thecountry in search of fugitive insurgents. Finfeswere imposed upon the landed gentry, and largecontributions of labour and provisions exactedfrom the peasantry. Frau von Udvarnoky, whohad given shelter and food to some Hungarian

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officers, was arrested, tried, and whipped in themarket-place of Presburg.

General Giirgey, meanwhile, concentratedHa cavalry and some detachments of mounted'artillery in front of Altenburg, to protectthe retreat of his infantry upon Raab. Onthe 18th of December, this rearguard wasattacked by the vanguard of the Imperialists.The Ban Jellacliich, with two regiments ofhorse and one flying battery, advancing fromSommerein, formed hia heavy troopers in lineon the plain of Altenburg. His artillery openedupon the Hungarian hussars. Its fire was re-turned by Gcirgey's batteries, whose guns did somuch execution among the cuirassiers, thatthey wavered, and lost ground. At that momentthey were charged by the husaars, their linewas broken and driven back upon Lichten-Btein's corps, which came up to support theBan. So complete was the rout of the Im-perialist cavalry, that the hussars were allowedunmolested to follow the gros of their army toRaab, where they arrived on the 20th, andwhere General Gorgey proposed to wait forPerczel's corps, and, supported by him to ac-cept battle from Prince WiDdiahRriitz.

This resolution might have been fatal to the

THE BETREAT FROM RAAB. 135

cause of Hungary, for Gorgey's small army wasdispirited by a five days' retreat, while theirenemies were emboldened by success. His posi-tion at Raab was protected by entrenchments,and by the confluence of two rivers, which atany other season would have been a formidableobstacle in the way of an advancing army.But owing to the severity of the winter of 1848,the Rabnitz and the Raab-Danube were frozenover, so that even cavalry and heavy ordnancecould have crossed over the ice. The entrench-ments were too extensive, and too slight, andthey were, moreover, badly placed. Gor»gey*s army at Raab was thus exposed on itsflanks and rear, while its front had but an in-different protection. Fortunately for them,they waited five days in vain for the arrivalof Perczel's corps, and on Christmas-day,when the Imperialist vanguard came in sight,Gorgey reluctantly consented to obey theorders which Mr. Kossuth had transmittedto him from Pesth, to evacuate Raab, andretreat on the road to Buda. His marchremained unmolested by the Austrians, who,deceived by his previous intentions, concen-trated their army in front of the city, with aview of storming it. This cautious advance

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cost them two days. They occupied Raab onthe 27th, and immediately despatched theirvanguard in pursuit of Gorgey*s corps. Ottin-ger's cavalry brigade, which headed the pursuit,overtaking the Hungarian rearguard at Babolna,routed and put them to flight, Trilling 400,and capturing 700. Among the captives wasMajor Zel, who was picked up on the fieldof battle, bleeding from sixteen wounds. Hewas tried by court-martial, and sentenced totwelve years incarceration in heavy irons. Themisericorde of the mediaeval warriors was mercycompared to this treatment.

On the 39th December, General Gorgey'sarmy was concentrated at Bicske, still waitingfor General Perczel, who on that day met thetroops of the Ban Jellachich at Moor. Re-treating in a parallel line with Gorgey, andanxious to effect a junction, he came to Moor,and occupied that place when the approach ofthe enemy's vanguard was reported by hispatrols. Two battalions of his corps had beendetached at Kormond, his ranks were thinnedby the casualties and the fatigues of forcedmarches, and he had but 5000 men and sixteenguns, to oppose to a hostile force of 10,000men, 3000 horses, and thirty-two pieces of

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BATTLE OF MOOB. 137

artillery. But Maurice Perczel, the Hotspurof the Hungarian war, considered nothingexcept the advantages which the ground offeredto his evolutions.

He afterwards excused his rashness by pro-testing that he expected assistance from Gor-gey. The road from Babolna to Moor, onwhich the Imperialists advanced, leads throughthe mountainous forest of Bakonyi,—in peacethe haunt of outlawed robbers, in war, ofguerillas. About three miles from Moor, theroad, emerging from the forest, runs some dis-tance through the plain, and then ascends arange of low but steep hills, which commandthe town on the one side, and the approachfrom the forest on the other. General Perczelplaced his sixteen field-pieces on these heights,and, as the first columns of the Imperialistsissued from the forest, his artillery opened uponthem. For two hours the Hungarian gunnersdid their work bravely and successfully. TheImperialists made vain endeavours to debouchfrom the dense wood, which equally concealedand obstructed their movements, but everyattempt to gain a footing, and form on theplain, was defeated by the fire of PerczePsartillery. By degrees, the body of the corps

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came up with the forlorn hope which hadopened the engagement. Some twelve-poundersissued from the thick underwood to the rightof the road, and unlimbered in the clearing.They opened upon the left wing of the Hun-garians, who returned the fire with interest.Other guns debouched, and took their stationto the left of the road. On the road itself, theWalmoden cuirassiers advanced, and formedquickly, and in good order, in front of theHungarian lines. These preparations werescarcely made, when Perczel's fire slackened.The Austrian batteries advanced, unlimbered,fired and advanced again, and when this ma-noeuvre was repeated for the third time, thecuirassiers advanced to the charge. The quickand regular fire of the Hungarian infantrymade no impression upon this dense column ofmailed cavaliers. The hussars, broken andconfused by the last discharge of the artillery,advanced in vain. In another moment the Hun-garian lines were broken by the iron phalanx,their infantry routed and flying for life, one oftheir batteries taken, and the guns turned uponthe fugitives. But the hussars, though defeated,returned to the charge the moment the cui-rassiers spread their line to scour the field.

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BATTLE OF MOOR. 1 3 9

Mounted on slight and nimble horses, armedfor the attack only, relying for their defence onthe quickness of their movements and the in-stinct of their steeds, this national cavalry ofHungary spread in a large semicircle round theheavy cavaliers of Austria, and avoiding thecut of their formidable swords, they disabledriders and horses with their slight, curvedsabres. Thus harassed, the cuirassiers formedagain and again, against an enemy who fledfrom their charge, and again returned to worrytheir flank or rear. This hand to hand combatcontinued until the infantry had recovered fromtheir panic, and effected their retreat, part ofthem towards Csakv&r, whither the left wing ofG6rgey*s army advanced to protect them, andpart to Stuhlweissenburg and Martonvasar.

This accomplished, the hussars wheeledround, dispersed, and disappeared with a ratpidity which rendered all pursuit hopeless.But many remained on the battle-field, struckdown by the long, heavy swords of thecuirassiers. The loss of PerczePs corps on thatday is stated by the Hungarians as amountingto joo killed, and iooo men and six gunscaptured by the enemy. The Ban Jellachich'sbulletins of the battle assert that he attacked

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and routed a corps of 8000 menj that hekilled and captured several thousands; andthat the remainder, exceeding 8000, made adisorderly retreat towards Martonvasar.

It is impossible to determine the losses ofthe Imperialists in this engagement, and inother battles in whieh they remained in pos-session of the ground. The numbers givenin their bulletins are evidently not the trueones; for the writers of these documentsendeavoured to persuade the world that the'Austrian troops stood their ground againstlong and violent cannonades, against volleysof musketry, and the furious charge of lighthorse, not only unflinchingly, hut also withoutscrioua losses; that they stormed entrench-ments and lieights crowned with artillery, dis-playing * the greatest gallantry and contempt ofdanger;' and that their ' heroic achievements *cost them only a few killed and wounded. Inthe Caucasus, the Russian troops fight forwhole days without losing, as their bidtetinsassert, more than eight men in any battle.The Austrian government, too, thonght properto discourage future insurrections by demon-strating how easy it is to conquer an insurgentarmy. Considering their numerical superiority.

MENDACIOUS BULLETINS. 1 4 1

their successes were not brilliant; but thebulletins which were published after everymovement in advance represented the troops ofPrince Windishgratz as marching from victoryto victory, amidst the acclamations of the libe-rated populace. In reality, the progress of theImperialists was slow; they were compelled toadvance with the utmost caution; the inhabi-tants of the country fled at their approach,destroying all provisions or concealing themin the forests or in the moors which skirtthe banks of the Danube, the Theiss, and theWaag. The fatigues of the campaign, thewant of food and shelter, and the extraordinaryseverity of the season, combined to make this' career of victory* most pernicious to the troopsof Prince Windishgratz.

A similar system of imposture prevailed atPesth.* The populace had for weeks past beenamused with accounts of battles fought andvictories won, with tales of the hopeless condi-tion of the Imperialists, and the triumphantadvance of the national forces. But after thebattle of Moor concealment was impossible.

* Klapka's National War in Hungary and Iran*sylvania, vol. i. p. 118. Leipzig.

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The various corps of the army, partly routed anddisorganized, were in full retreat upon thecapital. The fortifications of Buda were in-complete ; the fortress was untenable; and thegenerals were not even able to aeeeptalast anddecisive battle under the walls of Pesth. Thepatriotism of those is open to doubt, whowantonly imposed upon a nation which theyprofessed to love and respect.

The news of Perczel's defeat at Moor reachedPesth on the evening of the 30th of December.A council of the c Committee of Defence' washeld, and Mr. Kossuth proposed, and thecouncil assented to, the evacuation of Pesth andBuda. It was resolved to remove .the seat ofthe government, the ministerial offices, and theParliament to Debreczin, a city in the centre *of the vast plains of the Theiss, and protectedby its marshes and swamps. But how was thatmeasure to be published ? And how was it toobtain the sanction of the Parliament ? for upto that hour even the representatives of thenation had been kept in ignorance of the realstate of affairs. It fell to the lot of the Secre-tary-at-War, L. Messaros,to stand the brunt ofthe popular fury. On the last day of the year1848 he rose to break the evil news to the House.

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THE RETREAT TO DEBRECZIN. 143

His first words drew upon him a storm of indig-nation. Cries of 'ShameV 'Turn him outI*'Down with the traitor !' were heard from allparts of the House. The old soldier calmlybraved the wrath of the Assembly. But whenthe furious cries of the members drowned hisvoice, he cast an appealing look at Mr. Kossuth,who, more pale, haggard, and dejected thanusual, rose to save his colleague from CountLamberts fate. In this instance, too, his demo-niacal* power prevailed—the tumult subsided;the latter part of his speech was interruptedwith loud and enthusiastic cheers; and theHouse assented to the measures he recom-mended. Some members, such as D. Pazmandy,and Maurice Szentkiralyi, though they votedfor the retieat to Debreczin, declined accom-panying the government. Somewhat later abill of outlawry and confiscation was passedagainst them.

The removal of the military stores, magazines,depots, and hospitals was a gigantic undertak-ing, in a country where the roads are extremelybad, more especially in winter. Thousands of

* This word is not used in its modern sense.

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waggons, heavily loaded, passed through thegates of Pesth and proceeded towards theThews. The government offices and archiveswere sent to Debreezin, but the depots andmilitary factories were removed to GreatWarasdin. So absolute was Mr. Kossuth'ssway, so active were the officers under hiscommand, that before the end of January,1849, these factories were safely established,and employed in providing the Hungarianarmies with sabres, gunpowder, ordnance, andother stores. Before that time the Parlia-ment resumed its consultative functions atDebreczin.

Its last act at Pesth was an act of concilia-tion, of wliien the credit is chiefly due to CountLouis Batthyauyi. With the consent and autho-rity of the House, that nobleman, accompaniedby Count Majlath, Bishop Lonovics, and FrancisDeak, proceeded to the Austrian head -quartersat Bia, offering submission on certain con-ditions. The Imperialist leader refused toreceive Count Batthyanyi. The rest wereadmitted on the understanding that they camenot officially, but merely as private suppliants.His reply was short, and full of fate. Hewould accept of nothing, hear of nothing.

ARREST OF COUNT BATTHYANYL 1 4 5

but 'unconditional surrender*/* 'he scornedto treat with rebels/

The deputies returned with the convictionthat nothing was to be expected from theclemency of Austria, and that the transgres-sions of a period of doubt and confusion,one in which no country, no class, no partywas free from reproach, were to be visited withunmitigated severity on the heads of the Hunga-rians. The Count Batthyanyi in particular re-ceived a warning which it was folly to disregard.Although the least guilty, he must have knownhimself the most hated. He could not haveforgotten, that in his younger years, whenquartered at Venice, tender, though illicitties had bound him to the ArchduchessSophia. Those ties had been broken, andnot by her. As sweet things when taintedbecome most loathsome, so was the affectionof early days turned into bitter animosity.Nor was this all. The Count Batthyanyiwas rich and generous. Many members ofthe Austrian aristocracy were more extrava-gant and less wealthy. On some occasions his

• Prince Windishgratz*s German words, ' ayf Qnadeund Ungnadej convey even a harsher meaning.

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assistance had been asked, and freely granted.It was notorious that large sums had been lentby him to some of the highest persons in theempire. The Duke d'Este was indebted tohim to an extent which made the repaymentof the sums advanced, if not impossible, atleast most inconvenient, Louis Batthyauyimust have known the weaknesses and vices ofthe men with whom he had long lived ou termsof intimacy, if not of friendship. Nor couldhe mistake the intentions of a family which hasnever been known to forgive, and which onlyseems to forget. Still he made no attempt toescape from Pesth. He was arrested on the 9thof January. From that day the mildest, if notthe wisest, of the Hungarian chiefo, was loat to anation which more than ever needed his mode-ration, hiB moral courage, and his patriotism.

The corps of Perezel and Go'rgey, still re-treating before the advance of the Imperialists,took, on the 2nd of January, a defensive posi-tion in front of ISuda, in a line from Tcteuy toBuda Ors, and across the roads to Stuhl-wcissenburg and Bicske. Their outposts wereat Hamsaberg, from whence they were ejectedon the 3rd by the vanguard of Jellachich'scorps. An attack on Teteny followed, but

COMBAT AT TETENY. 1 4 7

the Wahnoden cuirassiers were defeated, andin the engagement which ensued, the Hun-garians remained in possession of the ground.The news of this partial success reanimatedthe hopes of the Council of War at Pesth,which sent orders to Gorgey instructing himto advance upon the Imperialists, and pro-mising the support of two corps under Perczeland Repasy. But Gorgey, less sanguine ofsuccess, withdrew his army in the course ofthe night, and on the morning of the 4th,his battalions were encamped on the moun-tains, and under the walls of Buda. On theafternoon of that day, and throughout thenight, the Hungarians retreated from Buda,crossed the Danube, and proceeded by railwayto Szolnok, on the Theiss. To prevent pursuit,the rails were destroyed when the last detach-ment had passed. On the 5th, Buda and Pesthwere occupied by the troops of Prince Windish-gratz, and the Magyar tricolour was supplantedby the black and yellow banner of Austria.Prince Windishgratz addressed a proclamationto the Hungarians, in which he said that,supported by a loyal and gallant army, he hadput the rebel bands to flight, and entered thecapital. His success was chiefly owing to the

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148 THE WAA IN HUNGARY.

fidelity and devotion of the peasantry, whichscorned the intrigues and defeated the schemesof a rebellious faction. The Emperor had in-structed him to restore tranquillity and order,to establish liberty and fraternity among allclasses and races, to promote the welfare ofHungary, and to exterminate the rebels. Hecalled upon the inhabitants of the country totake advantage of this last respite, and sub-mit to the legal authority of the King of Hun-gary. c By this means alone/ concluded thevictorious general, € shall I be enabled to inter-cede with his Majesty for the misguided toolsof the rebellion/

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149

CHAPTER V.

Windishgratz at Pesth.—-Joseph Bern.—Events in Tran-sylvania.—Massacres at Kis-Enyed and Zalathna.—Combats at Csucsa, Sibo, and Decs.—Capture of Klau-Benburg and Bisztritz.—Battle of Herrmanstadt.—Mutinous Conduct of Gorgey.—His Opposition to Mr.Kossuth.—His Treatment of the Austrian Prisoners.—Secret Motives of his Conduct.

THE proceedings of Prince Windishgratzshowed that he, for one, did not believe

in the truth of the assertions contained in hisproclamation. Martial law was proclaimedthroughout the reconquered districts, and apermanent court-martial established at Pesth.The surrender of arms was rigorously enforcedin a country whose inhabitants were accus-tomed, and indeed compelled, to arm them-selves against robber bands and the still moredangerous razzias of wolves from the Car-pathian and Styrian mountains. The leastoffensive demonstrations of national feelingwere suppressed with rigour or punished withcruelty. The prisons of Buda and Pesth werefilled with political offenders. Old transgres-sions were raked up, and an unlimited scope


150 THE WAR IN HUNGAHY.

was given to the hoarded-up vengeance of indi-viduals. The population of the country andthe towns was at the mercy of the Imperialisttroops, whose greed, insolence, and brutalitytook no heed of rank, class, or political opinions.To resist their extravagant demands, to resenttheir grossest outrages, was considered on' insult offered to his Majesty's troops,* aud pu-nished accordingly. Sentences of fines, of im-prisonment in. heavy irons, and, worse than all,of corporal punishment were showered uponthe unfortunate people. The Jews, a nume-rous, wealthy, and consequently an influentialclass, were among the chief objects of the Im-perial commander's animadversion. He sus-pected them of favouring Mr. Kossutk's party.A series of vexatious decrees were publishedagainst them generally, but chiefly agaiust theJews of Pesth, who were, moreover, mulctedin au enormous sum as a fine for their ' rebel-lious tendencies.' The Jews, whatever theirsympathies or antipathies might have been,were by this treatment compelled to espouseand support Mr. Kossuth'a cause. The greatmaster of that policy which Prince Windish*griitz represented, recommends the utmost cau-tion and forbearance in spoliation, which, of

WISDISHGRATZ AT PESTH. J51

all kinds of injustice, is moat impatiently borneby the citizens of every country. Hebrews areproverbially tenacious of money. The Jews ofPesth, Raabj and Presburg, who monopolizedtrade throughout Hungary, and whose influ-ence, swift, sure, and secret, extended from the

i, heart of Austria far beyond the Turkish fron-1 tier, proved the moat zealous Bupportcrs andmost serviceable allies of Mr. Kossuth. Theyfacilitated his financial operations, carried hisdespatches, and informed his generals of thestrength, the positions, and the movements of

| the Austrian corps.After the occupation of Pesth, the Impe-

rialist commanders confined their operationsto the eiege of the fortresses of Leopoldstadtand Komorn. General Nugent occupied the

(counties on the Mur and the Drave, therebysecuring tan com muni cations of the armywith Croatia, Styrin, and Austria. The

\ Generals Gotz and Frisheisen entered thevalley of the Upper Waag aiid the county ofTiirocz, while in tipper Hungary, General

l< Shlick advanced to within nine miles ofIcolcz, The Hungarians were confined to

Fine wide marshy plains of the Theiss and toI the banks of the Maros, where the bulk of

152 THE WAB IH HUNGARY.

tlielr levies were concentrated under Perczeland Repasy; while measures were taken on agigantic scale, and almost incredible resultsaccomplished in the creation and organiza-tion of a large popular army. GeneralGorgey had undertaken to withdraw the at-tention of the enemy from this, the moatimportant point of the Hungarian position.Hovering round the Imperialists, on the leftback of the Danube, and threatening theirlines of communication and retreat, he soughtto attract tlie bulk of their forces, and if need be,to fall back upon Komom or to the Carpathianmountains. Prince Windishgratz has beencensured for his want of energy in not march-ing at once upon the head-quarters of theinsurrection. His proclamation shows that hewaited at Pestb to receive the submission ofthe various counties. His army was, more-over, unfit to continue the winter campaignamidst the desert plains and morasses ofthe Theiss and the Maros. His bulletinsstated that he had marched from victoryto victory, arid that he had defeated theInsurgents at the expense of perhaps athousand lives. In reality, the march fromtlie Laytha to Pesth cost him about aOjOOO

JOSEPH BEM. 153

men in killed and wounded; his regimentswere reduced by disease and the want ofshelter and food. On many occasions, thevidettes were found frozen to death. All hissoldiers wanted rest, comfort, and clothing.His stay at Pesth, however pernicious to thesuccess of his plans, was prompted by neces-sity rather than by choice.

Such was the state of affairs when informa-tion reached the head-quarters at Debreczinand Pesth, that at least in one part of thecountry the fortune of war had been in favourof the Hungarians.

Joseph Bern, a Pole, from Tarnow, in Gal-licia, had, after the battle of Shwechat,solicited a command in the Hungarian army.His request was supported by his high repu-tation for genius, science, coolness, andcourage. He was fond of war, and familiarwith all its features. In 1812, he served aslieutenant of artillery in the corps of Davoustand Macdonald and assisted in the defenceof Dantzig. In 1815 he entered the serviceof Russia, and was a captain and professor ofmathematics in 1819. He introduced theCongreve rockets into the Russian artillery.In the insurrection of 1831, he fought with

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15i THE WAR I S HUNGARY.

great distinction at Igania, Ostrolenka, andPraga, where he commanded the Polishartillery. In 1833 he went to Portugal, andentered the service of Don Pedro. Afanatic among his countrymen discharged apistol at him, and the fate of Don Pedro wasdecided before he recovered from the wound.The year 1848 found General Bern at Vienna,and the fall of that city drove him to Hungary.Old, grey-haired, of a small, spare body,covered with wounds, he was neverthelessenergetic, active, of an untiring perseverance,wary, full of expedients, and gifted with amiraculous contempt of danger- The explosionof a magazine at Warsaw blew him higb intothe air, and left him a mangled, scorched,seared body. He bore the marks of all hisbattles. He was twice wounded on a barri-cade in Vienna. Hewould read his despatches,and write his answers, amidst a hail-storm ofballets. A strict disciplinarian, he scandalizedthe Viennese by insisting on shooting twosoldiers of their garde mobile, one for violatinga woman, the other for insulting an officer.

'You will not leave this position,* said he,tothe commander of a barricade on the Jager-zeile, ' until it is quite untenable, and then—

JOSEPH BEAL 155

even then, you must not leave it.1 And to adeputation of Vienna gardes mobiles, he said,' Will you fight or treat ? If the latter, don'tdisturb me, for I never did treat. If you willfight, I am at your service/ Arid when theymentioned their hopeless condition, he replied,' A general has always some resource, and I ama general. I will stand by you to the lastman. You speak of treason!—look at mywounds V

Such was the man to whom Mr. Kossuthwould have confided the chief command of theHungarian armies. But the fanaticism of thePoles, whose political intrigues Bern refusedto support, prevented an arrangement which,as subsequent events proved, might havechanged the fortunes of the war. As in Por-tugal, so in Hungary, General Bern waswounded by a pistol-shot from a Pole, wholoudly protested that the old man was a traitor.Such words tell in times of general doubt andconfusion, Mr. Kossuth* ' had a great weak-

* ness, and one which at a later period was at-tended with the most fatal consequences. Itwas his want of a just and due appreciation

Horn; Ludwig Kossuth, vol. i. p. 80.

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of character.'* He distrusted General Bern,but, overawed by the cold, determined man-ner of the old warrior, dared not utter hiasuspicions. The President of the HungarianGovernment sent the old Pole on what he con-sidered a hopeless errand, and gave him acommand without an army. Bern was in-structed to collect what volunteers would followhis standard, and with them to reconquerTransylvania.

That province, one of the crown-lands ordependencies of Hungary, is chiefly inhabitedby "Wallackian- natives and German settlers,Both were strongly opposed to the Magyarminority, and the Wallackiana especially hadprofited from the troubles of Hungary and theprotection of the Imperialist troops to wreakthe stored-up vengeance of centuries on theheads of their oppressors. The Magyar citiesand villages were occupied and disarmed by theAustrians. "When these left, they were invadedby Wallack hordes, which followed in the trackof the Emperor's officers. They sacked andburned the towns, villages, and manor-houses,and butchered the inhabitants, or tormented

* MeosahenliBiintiiiwi U (lie German word.

EVENTS IN TRANSYLVANIA. 157

them to death. Nagy-Euyed, Zalathna, Abnid-banya, Koriisbany, and Brad, the moat flourish-ing towns of Magyar Transylvania, were leftheaps of smoking ruins, while in their streetslay, half burnt, the mangled bodies of men,women, and children, their nails torn off, theireyes put out, their bodies run tlirough withpikes.* The Magyar population was exter-minated in Transylvania. The officer whoundertook the conquest of that province hadnothing to expect from the Bympathies of its

• On the i8Lh October, 1B48, the Wullacklans attackedKis-Enyed, a little town in the county of Lower Albo.They tortured and killed nil Magyars, no matter ofwhat age or BOX. L. Porsoit, bis wife and his twodaughters were seized in his fiotwe. Mrs. Porsoit wanon the eve of her confinement They put her to deathunder circumstances of the most revolting cruelty. The.two girls were violated before their lather's eyes, who wasafterwards killed with an axe.

Mr. JubloncKfiy, formerly a. judge in the earne district,fled to the fortress of Karlsburg, and claimed tin? pro-tection of General Horak, the Austrian commander, utwhose li finds he and his son were dsmonded by a crowdof armed "Wallackians. The general surrendered the twovictims. The Wallackians bound their feet, tied them toa carriage, and draggeil them through the town. Mr.Jablonezay ditd. His son was dragged through all theTillages of the district, and in every village fifty blowswere administered to him. He woa finally piked to death.

Sigmimd Bartha, hia wife, and Home relations, ?uught

158 THE WAB IN HUNGABY.

inhabitants. He had to contend with thestubborn Sachsen or Germans, and with thehardy, savage "VTaUaekians. The country,covered with high mountains, and intersectedby long, narrow valleys and rapid streams, iaone of nature's fortresses. The defiles, thecitadels, and fortified cities were held by armedbauds of Wallackians and by an Austrian armyof 18,000 men, and 60 guns, sis and twelvepounders. For all that, General Bern proceeded

refuge in a loft, where they hid themselves under the hay.They were pulled out, flung into the yard, and caughton tho pikes of the Wallackhina.

Clara Apathin, a lady of rank, whose limbs were palsied,wild burnt in her bed.

Of the Brady family, in the county of Zarand, thirteenpersons wHre drowned in a well.

The city of Zidathna was destroyed by a horde ofWai lack inns led by their chiff, Janliu. Two thousand oi'the inhabitants were murdered in the presence of th«Austrian troops. The Administrator, John Nemegyi, wasshot, and his son, a child of four yearn old, was pitted.The wife of the Doctor Decanie, severely wounded, laywrithing on the ground, crying for mercy. A Wnllacktook a knee and killed her in a manner which decencyforbids to specify.

Jttnlcu, tliu Wallack chier, waa afterward* the guest ofGeneral Hnynau. He was decorated by the EmperorFrancis Joseph, who shook hands with him, saying:Maltvm fecisli Janku, vere multum fcciati.'—See C K I *Mid also Pataokj's War in Transylvania,

EVENTS IN TRANSYLVANIA. 159

to the execution of a task which, to any otherman, would have appeared hopeless. He col-lected the remnants of the Viennese insurgents,who had sought refuge in Hungary, and thefugitive Hungarian forces, whom the AuS"fcrians had driven from Transylvania, Zealous,energetic, and persevering, he created and con-centrated a force of 3600 men, with 1335 horsesand twenty-four field pieces, and on the jotLDecember he resolutely opposed this smallarmy to the Imperialist corps, which endea-voured to debouch from the defiles of Tran-sylvania with a view to invading Hungary andoperating against Great Warasdin. On the19th, 20th, and 23rd of December, he fought theAustrian troops at Csucsa, Sibo, and Dees; herouted them in each of these combats, aud, pro-ceeding by forced marches, appeared at tlioheels of the fugitives before the important cityof Klausenburg, where the Austrian general,Wardencr, stood prepared with nine battalionsand a squadron of horse. A determined re-sistance was expected, and General Bern, whohad hitherto gained his victories by the superiortactics of his artillery, almost every piece ofwhich he placed and pointed with his ownhands, cheered his troops with the promise

160 THE WAR IS HUNGARY.

of rest and comfortable quarters at Klausen-burg. The capture of that town was easybeyond hia boldest hopes. Cowed by defeat,the Imperialists lost ground at the first gun-shot, and as Bern's troops advanced, sup-ported by quick and effective discharges ofartillery on their Hanks, their antagoniststurned and fled towards Bisztritz. Thin suddenflight spurred General Bern to fresh exertions^His soldiers, careless of rest and food, pressedon in pursuit, and, attacking and defeating theAustrians when they attempted to rally atBetldcn, Bisztritz, and Tihucsa, Bern drovehis enemies through the defiles of Borgo, intothe Bukovina. He occupied Klanaenburg andBisztritz, and on the 13th of January, when hemarched against the town of Maros-Vaaarhely,the Austrian garrison evacuated the placeand retreated to Mediash. So great wasthe confidence of the victorious general, thathe wrote to Mr. Koesuth: • I ask you neitherfor soldiers, nor weapons, nor money. Ican get all I want.' And he added thatwithin three daya he expected to take Herr-manstadt, the capital of Transylvania. Trueto Ma word, on the third day he led his troopsacross the plain in front of the town, which is

BATTLE OF HERRMANSTADT. 161

fortified with a wall and rampart, and whichwas, on this occasion, surrounded by strongredoubts, and held by 9000 foot, scoo cavalry,30 field - pieces, and 24 guns in position,supported by 7000 German and Wallackianirregulars. To confront so large an armyin its advantageous position, General Bernbrought 7000 men and 30 guns into theplain of Herrmanstadt. He could not expectsuccess, unless the Imperialists, demoralizedby their frequent defeats and their terror ofhis artillery, should decline the battle, andmake good their retreat. The assurance withwhich he led his soldiers up to the mouths ofthe Austrian cannon showed that he reliedrather on the moral effect of his audacity, thanon the means by which battles are usually lostand won. Nor was he altogether wrong in hiscalculations. Desertions had of late been fre-quent among the Austrian troops, and on theday previous to the arrival of the Hungarians,General Puchner had narrowly escaped theconsequences of a mutiny among his officers.So impressed were the inhabitants of Herr-manstadt with the panic of the troops, andthe rebellious spirit of their leaders, that theyfled to the dense forests of Rothenthurm.

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162 THE WAB IK HUNGABT.

Bat Bern's expectations were signally disap-pointed. As bis troops advanced on the roadwith their artillery on either flank, and whenthey were close to the outer entrenchments,the Imperialist artillery opened upon them.The first discharge covering General Bernand bin staff, killed his adjutant and one ofhis colonels. In another moment the firewas returned hy tie Hungarian artillery, and aviolent cannonade commenced. In this en-gagement the infantry and cavalry also werebrought into action. Bern's Vienna legion andhis Szekler hussars (almost the only nativesof Transylvania who espoused the Hungariancauae) made three unsuccessful attempts totake the works. They were each time drivenback by the grape-shot and the musketry ofthe Imperialists. The Hungarian artillery,which was stationed in the open plain, wasrepeatedly attacked by the Austrian cavalry,and each time the attack was repulsed by amurderous fire, supported by the violent onsetof Bern's hnssara. "WLcn the engagement hadlasted above live hours, six of the Hungarianguns were dismounted, and the centre and leftwing of Bern's position were seriously Bhaken.His ammunition was spent. A retreat was mi-

BATTLE OP HERRMANSTADT. 3 6 3

avoidable, and the first retrograde movementswere being executed when his reserves, underMajor Czetz, gained the field of battle. Thatofficer, who ought to have arrived immediatelyafter the commencement of the engagement,came in time to cover the retreat of his generalby a fresh attack. But even this succour didnot avail to rouse the hopes of the young andundisciplined Hungarian troops. Retreatingslowly at first, they soon wavered, dispersed,and covered the field in their rapid, disorderlyflight, while the Austrian horse and artilleryissued from their entrenchments to completethe rout. At this trying moment Bern's cooland calculating courage served him in thestead of an army. He made no fruitlessattempts to rally the fugitives, but surroundedby one troop of hussars and supported bysix field-pieces, he stood at bay, firing, re-treating, and firing again, and for seven longhours keeping his pursuers in check. Inthese seven hours he retreated at the rate ofa mile an hour, and at eight o' clock at nighthe reached the village of Stolzenburg, where,placing his artillery in a commanding posi-tion, and impeding the enemy's advance bythe destruction of a bridge, he made a final

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and successful resistance. His fugitive troopscame to Stolzenburg in the course of thenight. Early on the morning of the 22ndof January, General Bern, though appa-rently defeated, held a commanding positionwithin a few miles from the field of battle andthe capital of Transylvania. The news of theseevents, coming from a part of the countryfrom which Mr. Kossuth could not in reasonexpect to hear of aught but defeat, reani-mated the courage of the Hungarian leaders.Though the attack on Herrmanstadt hadfailed, it was now certain that General Puchnerand his army were kept in check by an ableand daring commander, heading a force whosenumbers were daily increasing, while eachengagement added to their experience in war.According to the original plan of Prince Win-dishgratz, it was Puchner*s task to debouchfrom Transylvania into the plains of Hungary,to occupy Great Warasdin, Debreczin, and theother head-quarters of the insurrection, and,supported by the troops from the Banat, toprevent the escape of Kossuth and the rest ofthe Magyar leaders. This portion of the planhad signally failed. Whatever the result ofthe campaign might be, it was now certain that

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MUTINOUS CONDUCT OP GOBGEY. 1 6 5

the Hungarian forces expelled from Pesth werenot to be driven back to that town by theadvance of General Puchner in their rear.The Commander-in-chief of the Imperialarmy was compelled to resume his operationsagainst the plains of the Theiss, and to detachfresh forces in pursuit of Gorgey, who, re-treating along the banks of the Danube andthreatening the corps which blockaded Komornand Leopoldstadt, defied the Imperialists by aline of march which brought him to thevicinity of the Austrian frontier. It requiredbut the genius of a Bem to make this vexatiousposition one of real danger for the Empire.But, even at this early period of the war, Gorgeyalmost purposely dispelled all doubts as to hisultimate intentions. There was a moderationin his manoeuvres which admitted but of oneconstruction. It was his object to showhimself a formidable antagonist, and, at thesame time, to avoid being hated as an enemy ;to detach the troops under his command fromthe national cause; to form for himself anarmy willing to fight his battles and con-sent to his treaties; and finally, to obtain aninfluential and commanding position in thatImperial army, which to him and his corn-

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rades stood in the place of country, friends,and home. All his actions conduced to thisone leading idea. The Hungarians identifiedMr. Kossuth with the national cause. It wasMr. Kossuth whom Gorgey mentioned withstudious contempt, whose orders he disobeyedwith a vaunting effrontery, and whom hedenounced as a ' quill-driver' and a s petti-fogger/ Severe and even cruel to his troops,neglectful of their comfort, and careless oftheir sufferings, his treatment of the Austrianprisoners was marked by a kindness whichcaused his soldiers to say they would ratherbe Austrian captives than Honveds, Thecaptive officers, in particular, were the objectsof his attention and care. While PrinceWindishgratz and the Austrian commandersgenerally took a pride in ill-treating theirprisoners — while some of the captive Hun-garian officers were shot, some hanged, andothers loaded with heavy irons—while thecaptive Honveds and hussars were deprived ofthe most necessary clothing, and compelled tobrave the severity of the season with nakedfeet, in open yards and sheds: GeneralGorgey, far from alleviating the sufferings ofhis countrymen by judicious threats or acts of

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retaliation, had his prisoners well fed, lodged,and clothed, and some of the more conspicuousamong them shared his table. This extra-ordinary forbearance in so stern a man was atthe time ascribed to an under-current of gene-rosity in Gorgey^s character, nor was it possibleto suspect the true cause of so much apparenthumanity.

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CHAPTER VI.

Gorgey at Waitzen.—His General Orders.—His Modera-tion.—His Retreat from Waitzen.—Combat at Turczek.—Skirmish at Ig\6—Guyon in the Branitzko.—GeorgeKlapka.—Henry Dembinski.—Klapka's Confusion.—Combat of Torna Alya.—Dembinski and Gorgey.—Countermarching.—Battle of Kapolna.—Dembinski'sClemency.—Mutiny.

the 5th of January, 1849, the armyof the Upper Danube, under Gorgey's

command, was concentrated at Waitzen. Thetroops, about 15,000, were discouraged and dis-contented. Their recent defeats, the loss of thecapital, and their seemingly hopeless expedi-tion, were eagerly canvassed among them, andformed subjects for the most sinister specu-lations. Their leaders, most of whom hadjoined the insurrection with a view to imme-diate and signal advantage, deplored that sel-fish step, now its object was foiled. Manywere the regrets and loud the sighs for theflesh-pots of old Egypt, for the amusementsand the easy routine of an Austrian garrison.Some asked for leave of absence. They de-parted, and never returned to their standards.

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One of them, General Lazar, who went toFesth to make his peace with the Austrians,was arrested, tried, and sentenced to twentyyears' confinement in a fortress, for the parthe had taken in the insurrection. Others ob-tained a mitigation of the sentence which thecourts-martial at Pesth were prepared to pro-nounce, by making their terms before they sur-rendered. The desertion of the officers made thetroops still more desponding and mutinous.

Under these circumstances, it became GeneralGorgey's duty to re-animate the courage of hisnrmy, by a vindication of the motives whichhad guided the government in its late measures.The common gossip of the camp accused Mr.Kossuth and his advisers of incompetence,treason, and cowardice. Harsh words! buteasily to be shamed into silence among a nationwhich delights in strong terms, and which, forgood as for evil, is in the habit of expressingmore than it means. That Gorgey felt theresponsibility of his position is shown by thefact of his assembling a council of war atWaitzen, and notifying his determination totreat all deserters with the utmost rigour of thelaw. At the same time he offered to acceptthe resignation of every officer whose courage

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or patriotism was not equal to the dangers ofthe expedition. But he would not defendthe course which the government had taken.Such a defence waa easy enough, for he couldrest it on truth. The retreat to Pesth, andthe subsequent retreat into the Theiss counties,were suggested not by choice but by necessity,and justified by the precedent of almost allHungarian campaigns. Instead of urging tlicobvious reasons for the government measuresand its plan of operations, reasons which hadbeen communicated to him, and which at thetime had at least the sanction of his silence,he published a general order, which in strong,though guarded language, accused the govern-ment of incapacity and cowardice. He declaredthat they had abandoned the capital under theinfluence of a panic, and that they were impelledby motives of selfish ambition, to which theywished to make the troops subservient. Heencouraged the army to protest against thegovernment measures and plans, and to followno guidance hut his own. He caused thisorder to be signed by all the staff-officers ofthe corps, who were presumed to act for and-with the assent of the troops. Subsequentevents proved that few of the officers, and

GORGEY'S GENERAL ORDERS. 171

among them scarcely any but the desertersfrom the Austrian service, sympathized withGorgey's sentiments and schemes. Klapkaadmits that the sergeants and men were unani-mous in their condemnation of the generalorder of the 6th January.*

Mr. Kossuth met this mutinous declarationwith remonstrances and entreaties. He im-plored Gorgey, ' for God's sake, for the sake ofthe country and of history/ to abandon thecourse on which he entered, by the publicationof his proclamation. To beg and entreat wasall he could do. The rebellious general andhis corps were detached, and their position, ifdangerous, was also perfectly independent. Alarge hostile army separated them from the go-vernment troops on the banks of the Theiss.An attempt to supersede Gorgey in his com-mand, might have goaded him on to desertion,if not to open rebellion. No steps were taken toreduce him to obedience, and he was allowed tofight his own battles in his own way. Hewas in the habit of complaining that in theretreat from Shwechat to Pesth, his planswere foiled and his movements hampered by#

• Klapka'* National War, vol. i. p. 146.

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the Committee of Defence, of which Mr. Kos-suth was the president. In his general ordersgreat stress was laid on his desire for actionand his thirst for great and glorious deedsof war. He could now give full scope tothe leanings of his mind. His instructionswere vague, as they naturally must be underthe circumstances. He was to advance to theUpper Danube, and remain in communicationwith the fortress of Komorn, and with Krem-nitz, and Shemnitz, the mountain cities of theCarpathians. It is an important and significantfact, that no mention whatever was made inthese instructions of a diversion across theAustrian frontier. The rebellious spirit of theAustrian8, and their sympathy with the causeof Hungary, were well-known to Mr. Kos-suth and his associates. No formidable arrayof forces obstructed the road to* Moravia.General Simunich, with a few thousand men,blockaded the Hungarian garrison of Leopold-stadt. Gorgey's army of 15,000 might havebeen increased to 25,000 men by draftsupon Komorn, Leopoldstadt, and the forcesin the Carpathians, and as no sufficientnumber of troops could be concentrated toresist his progress either in Hungary or

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Moravia, a razzia into the enemy's country,which was likely to cause a general insurrectionagainst the Emperor's power, offered manychances of success. It was a desperate movein a desperate game, and ought to have tempteda soldier who professed to scorn the prudentialconsiderations which influenced the counsels ofhis chief. But the idea of an invasion of theAustrian provinces, which most naturally sug-gested itself to all foreign commanders in theHungarian army, was either pertinaciouslyopposed or quietly discountenanced by thenative generals. Even had Gorgey receivedinstructions to such a purpose, he wouldmost probably have refused his obedience.The plan of his independent operations showsthat no advance into Austria was ever thoughtof by him. He proposed to proceed alongthe river Waag, leaning on Komorn on thethe one hand, and on the forces in the Car-pathians on the other, to relieve the fortressof Leopoldstadt, driven General Simunich intoAustria, and next—instead of following uphis advantage—to gain Tyrnauor Presburg,or to manoeuvre, that is to say, to wait forthe attack of the enemy, in the valleys of theUpper Waag.

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174 THE WAB IN HUNGABT.

With these views he left Waitzen on the7th of January, just when General Caorich,with about 7000 men, was sent to attack3lira. This email corps followed so closelyin Gorgey's track, molesting his rear-guardunder Colonel Guyon, and so great was hisdesire to escape from pursuit, that he neverthought of ascertaining the exact strength ofthe enemy. Throughout his march, he washaunted by the fear of a large corps advancingto crush his 15,000 men. If he had waitedfor the advance of his Austrian pursuers,his troops would have defeated them, for be-sides the advantage of numbers, Gorgey'scorps had seventy-two pieces of artillery toCsorich's 36 cannon. A battle at Leva, whichhe reached on the n th , would have hadan important, if not a decisive influence onthe course of events. It would have compelledPrince Windishgriitz still further to reduce hiaarmy at Pesth by sending fresh forces tothe Upper Danube; thus weakening hia ownarmy and exposing it to the attacks of thetroops which Mr. Kossuth, in auch a case,could have sent from Debreezin. But thechief advantage of a victory at Leva wouldhave ueen found in the increased confidence

THE RETREAT FROM WAITZEN. 175

of the army and of the country at large.If anything could excuse G6rgey*s mutinouslanguage, such a victory, gained within the firstfortnight of his independent operations, mighthave excused it. It would have proved thathis rebellion was not prompted by his ownevil desires, but that his talents could notbrook, and that his courage disdained the re-straint of incompetent and timid leaders. ButGeneral Gorgey, who in his proclamationsstated that he thirsted for a decisive engage-ment, evaded the battle, even when he was in-formed that General Csorich had detached astrong column on the direct road to the Car-pathians. He remained at Leva, and sufferedGuyon and his rear-guard to be forced backupon Maygarad.

At Leva, he heard of fresh disasters whichhad overtaken the Hungarian forces in theCarpathians. Colonel Benitzky, with 400 menin the valley of the Upper Waag, had beendefeated and expelled from that position byGeneral Gotz, who was, moreover, on the pointof receiving considerable reinforcements. Thisnews was enough to make General Gorgey aban-don all thought of Leopoldstadt and its garrison,which was subsequently compelled to surrender.


176 THE WAR IN HTJNGABY.

He led Ms troops in forced marches uponthe Carpathian cities of Kremnitz and Shemnitz,with a view to an escape to the banks of theTheiBS. He even divided his force to expediteits movements. Thus, hastily retreating, andpursued by an enemy whom he might havecrushed at any moment, he reached Shemnitzon the 13th. So hurried were his dispositionson this march, that he forgot the existence ofan important defile at Nemethi, which theAustrians were expected to pass on their ad-vance to Shenmitz. When reminded of thedanger, he secured that defile with a smallbody of volunteers, wlio occupied and defendedit against a detached column of Giitz's corps.That corps was allowed to effect a junctionwith Csorich without one single effort onthe part of Go'rgey to prevent this importantmanoeuvre.

On the 14th of January, despatches reachedhim from Dcbreczin. General Meszaros, whoseduty it was to defend the counties of the Theissand Debreczin against General Shlick—themoat humane and talented of the Imperialistleaders—had suffered a signal defeat at Kashau,and Shlick's corps was becoming dangerous tothe government. To case the troops of

GORGET'S RETREAT. 177

from their pursuers, who pressed upon theirheels, Kossuth instructed Gorgey to attack therear of Shlick's corps, and advancing either byGomor or through the Zips county, to effect ajunction with General Meszaros. These in-structions tallied with Gorgey*s previous in-tentions. His forced marches to Shemnitzhad no other object than that junction withthe forces on the Theiss which he was nowordered to effect with all possible despatch.But, perhaps because it was ordered and be-cause some good was to be effected by it,the scheme became distasteful to Gorgey,For the first time since his departure fromWaitzen, he pretended to feel for the fatiguesand privations of his troops. He could notpossibly go on retreating. Even the enemy inhis rear failed to shake his resolutions. Hefixed his head-quarters at Shemnitz, and pre-pared to hold out in the mountain cities of theCarpathians.

For once, however, necessity compelled himto relinquish his opposition against the govern-ment, whose plans he sought to foil. TheCarpathian cities were void of provisions forman and beast, and if he remained, it was atthe risk of starving his army. The troops might

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1 7 8 TBJE WAR IN HUNGARY.

possibly imitate his example, and goaded on bydespair, rise against their leader. No choicewas left him, and on the 18th January, fourdays after the receipt of the orders which in-structed him to support Meszaros, he moved hishead-quarters to Neusohl, where he proposedto concentrate his forces from Kremnitz,Heilig-Kreutz, Shemnitz, and Windshacht,which places they occupied during the halt.But on the 20th, the Imperialists advancedagainst Windshacht, which Colonel Guyonwith lion-like courage defended against numbersfar exceeding those of the troops under hiscommand. Retreating in the course of thenight upon Shemnitz, he was again attacked onthe 22nd, and after a desperate struggle, com-pelled to evacuate the town, and fall back uponNeusohl. Gorgey, who took the command ofPiller*s brigade, next to Guyon, made a faintendeavour to attack the Austrian flank; buthe was soon entangled in a woody defile, wherethe Austrians surrounded his troops, capturedfive of their guns, and finally put them to adisorderly and ruinous flight. So bewilderedwas General Gorgey by this reverse, that heremained motionless and almost bereft ofsense, while his soldiers fled or fell around

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COMBAT AT TURCZEK. 179

him. Lieutenant - Colonel Pusztelnib, whosought to make head against the Austrians, fellmortally wounded at the head of a detachmentof volunteers. The Hungarian officers statethat 700 men were killed and wounded in theengagements of Windshacht and Shemnitz,and that ten pieces of artillery were capturedby the Austrians. Such was the result of Gor-gey*s first attempt at independent generalship.

For a time the safety of hia retreat wasseriously endangered, for the Austrian corpsunder General Gotz, sought, as early as the19th, to gain the denies in his rear, and wouldhave gained them but for Colonel Aulich, who,leading his detachment from Kremnitz on the20th, attacked and defeated the Imperialists atTurczek, and then joined Gorgey at Neusohl,where he arrived on the 23rd, after a miracu-lous march through the terrible ravine whichdivides Kremnitz from Neusohl.

On the 24th, Gorgey commenced his marchover the Carpathian mountains. Dividing hiscorps into two columns, each preceded and fol-lowed by detachments of pioneers, the roads,which were blocked up with snow and earthfalls,were cleared as the troops advanced, while therear-guard sought by all means to make them

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ISO THE WAH IN HUNGARY.

impracticable, in order to impede the pursuitof the enemy. Ascending the long steep ridgesof mountains, climbing down into narrowvalleys, anil crossing streams and ravines, theHungarians proceeded slowly, but still lessslowly than their pursuers, who found theroads blocked up with fragments of rocks,and the bridges burnt. On the 29th ofJanuary, the column which Gb'rgey commandedreached Rosenberg, and proceeded along theWaag to St. Miklos, and from thence toPoprad. The second column, under Guyon andFiller, conquered the dangers of the mountainswith equal success, and advanced upou Gbmo'r.On this road they were met by the advancedguard of General Shlick, whose troops occu-pied the roads from Kashau to Debreczm andfrom Dukla into Gallicia, and who had scarcelybeen informed of the advance of Hungariansin hia rear, when he made good Mr. Kos-suth's prediction, by wheeling round upouKashau, with a view of occupying the Bra-nitzko defiles on the road to Eperiea, and thedefiles of the Hernad Valley on the Kaalianroad. By this manoeuvre, he might havecompelled Gb'rgey to remain at the footof the Carpathians and await the attack of

SKIBMISH AT 10L6. 181

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Gotz and Csoricb, who were hunting on histrack.

I The first meeting of the two hostile corpswas at Ig!<5, where, on the night of the 3rdFebruary, Shlick's advanced guard made a de-scent upon Guyon's corps. The surprise was

implete on either side. Colonel Guyon, who•was not aware of the vicinity of the enemy, hadno videttes. The Austrian officer fancied he

Ilia troops against a detached outpost. TheAustrian*, proceeded into the heart of the placebefore they were challenged by a sentinel.When at length the alarm was given, the con-

ion was altogether appalling. A stragglingfire was kept up from all the windows, as soldierafter soldier, roused from his sleep, dischargedhis musket upon the assailants. Some who

fjmshed out of the houses, and into themidst of the enemy, were engaged in desperatehand-to-hand fights. The air was filled with

urses, the shrill cry of women, words of com-and, the rapid discharge of musketry, and

she deep-mouthed hollowing of cannon. Bum-houses threw a lurid glare on the scene of

nfusion and bloodshed. But as one columnGuyon's soldiers after another crowded the

Streets, and cleared them at the point of the

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bayonet—when tlieir ranks, opening at intervalsat-a hoarse cry from the rear, made way forthe near and fatal discharge of artillery, theAustrians found to their dismay that they hadroused a lion in Ins lair. They wavered, lostground and fled, taking with them some cannonthey had captured during the first moments ofthe engagement. But Guyon, with two troops ofhussars, pursued them, recaptured his artillery,and took some of their cars and ammunition.He pursued the fugitives to the mouth of theBranitzko denies, which, supported by a fewother troops, he stormed on the 5th of February,thus relieving Gorgey from the dread of GeneralCsorich and the corps which for thirty dayshod hunted an his heels, and placing thearmy of the Upper Danube in direct com-munication with the government at Dcbreczinand the army on the Upper Theiss.

On the 6th of February Colonel Gnyonoccupied Epcries. A rapid advance against thecorps of General Shlick would have squeezedthe Auatrians iuto a dangerous poaition betweenthe army of the Theiss and the army ofthe Upper Danube. But so unprepared wasGorgey for the success of Guyon's bold enter-prise, and so immoderate was his joy, that he

GUYON IN THE BRANITZKO. 183

remained inactive in the position which hadbeen gained for him. His lethargy was themore profound since his rear was protectedfrom the dreaded advance of Csorich, and sincethe occupation of the Branitzkp pass enabledhim to defy the enemy. On the 8th, his corpswas still unconcentrated; nor did he recom-mence his operations until he received positiveorders from the government to co-operate withthe army of the Upper Theiss, and untilthe vanguard of the two armies met atKachau on the ioth. Thus ended Gorgey'sretreat, which has repeatedly been quotedas furnishing the most brilliant proofs of hisgallantry, judgment, and energy of action.In reality, this retreat wants the excuse ofnecessity. But for the apparent desire toescape from the enemy, it would also be devoidof purpose. The real dangers of the expe-dition fell to the share of Colonel Guyon,who alone and unsupported commanded therear-guard while the enemy was in pursuit,and who equally unsupported led the van of thearmy in the assault upon the Branitzko whenthe danger shifted from the rear to the front.This view is confirmed by the confession ofGorgey's friend and comrade, Klapka, who

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184 THE WAH IN HUNGARY.

admits that the commander of the army of theUpper Danube proved * a master in the art ofretreating, while he was a mere tyro in theattack.** To this testimony may be added thestatement of General Dembiiiaki, who mentionsGtirgey as an officer ' who has the misfortuneof seeing the enemy wherever they are not,while he can never see them where they reallyare.'t

The command of the armyof the Upper Theisshad up to this time been in the hands of ColonelKlapka. The history of this fraction of thecampaign admits of a short summary. Mcszarossucceeded for a time in defeating the advanceof General Shlick, who, according to the plansof Prince Wmdiehgratz, was to support theoperations of the chief army of Imperialistsagainst Pesth, by a rapid advance into thestrongholds of Magyarism. Battles were foughtat Sziszko and Kashau on the 28th Decemberand the 4th January. At Kashau Mcszarossnffered a signal defeat, retreated upon Tokajand resigned hia command. George Klapka,

• KJapka'a National War, vol. i. p. 17a.f Deinbinnki'H Report t« the President Eouuth, doled

Debrecjjn, i6tlt March, 1849.

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a young Hungarian officer and ex-lieutenant ofthe Austrian Noble Guard, was promoted to thevacant post. He concentrated the remainderof the troops at Tokaj, and held that placeagainst Shlick'a attacks from the n th to thegiat of January, when he was placed underGeneral Demhinski, who arrived from De-breczin with money, arms, and reinforcements,and who at once attempted to change thecharacter of the operations of the Hungarianarmies.

The Magyar officers (or, to speak more cor-rectly, the native Hungarians who formerly heldcommissions in the Austrian army) gloried intheir retreats. Henry Demhinski took theoffensive. He, the descendant of an ancientPolish family, born in 1791, received his educa-tion in the Academy of Engineers at Vienna.He learned the rudiments of war under Napo-leon, and was made captain after the battle ofSmolensk. In the Polish revolution of ] 830,lie commanded the levies in the district ofKalish. After the battle of Grochow, in whichlie took a distinguished part, he was promotedto the command of a brigade. The battle ofKuflew, in which he took the odds of one againstten, made him a General. He planned and

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executed the expedition into Lithuania, andgained the battle of Raygrod. But for theincompetency of his commander-in-chief, hewould have carried the standard of the Revo-lution into Rurland. Foiled in this scheme,he, with a corps of 4000 men, continuedthe operations in Lithuania, and finally con-ducted his troops through the midst ofhostile armies, to Praga and Warsaw. Thisretreat, which must always stand pre-eminentin modern military history, lasted twenty-fivedays, and esteuded over 130 German miles.He croBBed eleven rivers, led his army over themost dangerous ground amidst lakes and moors;while he defeated or outwitted his pursuers onevery day of his march. He commanded a divi-sion at Warsaw, and after Skrzineeki's fall hetook the chief command of the Insurgent army,and fought the last battle on Polish ground. Arefugee in Paris in the year 1848, his experienceand talents were gained for the cause of Hun-gary l>y Count Ladielas Tclcky, the agent ofMr. Kossiith'a government in France.

Thus was General Dcmhinski's name con-nected with .some of the greatest militaryachievements of the age. Though a foreigner,lie was bound to the cause of Hungary by

HENRY DEMBINSKI. 187

political sympathies and by the hope thatthe independence of the Magyars might leadto the independence of the Poles. In theranks of the enemy he saw his old foes, theAustrian Sclavonians; and beyond them, theirallies by consanguinity and principle, the Rus-sians. His talents were on record: there wasno reason whatever to doubt his fidelity to thecause which he espoused. Hence it was to beexpected that the Hungarian officers wouldgladly embrace the opportunity of learning theart of war under so renowned a chief. But theyoung men whom the convulsions of the timeraised above their proper level, were too vainand selfish to feel anything but displeasure atthe appointment of a general whose mentalsuperiority and brilliant achievements eclipsedtheir own pretensions to martial renown.

General Dembinski assumed on the 2nd ofFebruary the command of the army of theUpper Theiss, consisting of two separatecorps, under the Colonels Klapka and Repasy.Almost on the first day of his commandhe had to correct the inexperience and dis-countenance the crude schemes of one ofthese officers. Colonel Klapka, whose quarterswere at Rakamor, had impressed himself with

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18S THE WAR IN HUNGARY.

a firm conviction that General ShUck intendedto attack him on the left bank of the Theiss.He wrote to his commander asking for support,and giving a detailed and impressive descrip-tion of the enemy's numbers and movements.Rumours had already readied the army onthe Theiss of Gcirgey's retreat and Guyon'sadvance upon the Brauitzko. Leaving hisquarters at Polgar and proceeding to Rakamorin a forced march, General Dembinski camein time to witness his junior officer's dis-comfiture at the fake alarm he had given, forby that time it was evident that Shlick's corpswas in full retreat upon Kashau, and thatKlapka had heen deceived by demonstrationsin the enemy's rear, which were intendedto mask that retreat. In order to atone forthis mistake, the young Colonel proposed topursue General Shlick to Kaahau. Dembinskiopposed this plan; but when Klapka in-sisted, and when his views were aupported byMr. Kossuth's agentj Szemere, he was com-pelled to give hia consent to the expedition.He Gaid: ' I will let you do as you please, butonly to give you satisfactory proof that I knowmore of war than you do. Yon will not comeup with Shlick at Kashau, and for the future

KLAPKA'S CONFUSION. 189

you will know that my will alone ought to bethe standard of your judgment/ Colonel Klapkaled his troops upon Kashau, where he was againdeceived by the demonstrations of Shlick'srear-guard, for in his first report he assured hiscommander that the Imperialists were preparingto hold the city against him. He desired sup-p6rt for his left wing at Sziszko, and supportwas sent accordingly. His second report showedthat the demonstrations of the Austrian rear-guard had scared him. He had retreatedthe length of one day's march. Four-and-twenty hours after this prudent movement,he informed General Dembinski that theImperialists had evacuated Kashau, that heproposed to pass the night where he was, andthat on the following morning he intended to' make a cautious advance' against the place.After wasting another four-and-twenty hoursin this useless advance, Colonel Klapka atlength consented to march upon Miskolcz,where Dembinski awaited the termination ofhis manoeuvres. On receiving this news, Dem-binski placed his vanguard under Lieutenant-Colonel Kazinzy, whom he sent forward toEdelen, to molest the flank of the Austrians atSzendro. But Colonel Klapka's marches and



counter-marches in front of Kaahau provedfatal to the success of this mameuvre.

"When the Hungarians reached Edelen, theAustriaiis had already passed that village andSzendro, and were in full retreat upon TornaAlya, whieh they reached on the 13th ofFebruary, after a march which General Dem-binski, even after the experience of hisLithuanian retreat, designates as fabulous. AtTorna Alya Slilick proposed to grant histroops some rest and food. He quartered IUBarmy on t!ie surrounding villages, and madepreparations for a hnlt of several days. ButDembinski, hastening up in forced marches fromMiskolez, attacked him at noon on the 14th,and compelled him to evacuate Torna Alya.O11 the 15th, Shlick fell back upon Rim aSzombat, making his way through a narrowdefile, which effectually prevented Dembinskifrom molesting hia march. In his despatches,Dembinski protests that General Shlick -wouldhave been completely routed if Colonel Kiapkahad not misled him as to the strength of theAustrian corps, of which the Colonel protestedhe had the ordre de iataillc, quoting 16,000men, while in the attack on Torna Alya it wanfound that the Austriana mustered at most 900a

COMBAT OF TOKNA ALTA. 191

men. Another reason of the incompletenessof Dembinski's success is to be found in therefusal of Colonel Piller, of Gorgey's corps,to take part in the engagement. That officer,though repeatedly entreated to support Dembin-eki's operations, pleaded the positive orders ofhis chief, which compelled him to retreat uponKashau. On the day after the battle, Dem-binski received despatches from Debreezin,which placed the corps of General Gorgeyunder his command. The order was datedthe 12th of February. If it had reached theGeneral two days earlier, there can be no doubtthat the operations against Shuck's corps wouldhave ended with the battle of Torna Alya.

The order of the government which instructedGorgey to place himself and his corps under thecommand of General Dembinaki, was followedby a second mutinous proclamation to thetroops, in which Mr. Kossutli, as well as Dem-binski, were mentioned with great acerbity anddisrespect. Immediately after the publicationof this proclamation, the officers of the corpsassembled and declared that they owned nocommander but Giirgey, and that his ordersalone should be obeyed. The two documentswere duly forwarded to the government at


Debreczin, which in reply thought proper toadmonish Gorgey and his officers. According tomilitary law, the General ought to have been shotand his officers cashiered.

Dembinski's first order to Gorgey instructedhim to lean his force upon Miskolcz. G6rgey*sfirst act under the new command was an act ofindirect disobedience. He protested that hispresence was required in the Zips county,where he was quartered, and pleaded the neces-sity of keeping up the communications withGallicia. It required a second and peremptoryorder to induce him to "march upon Miskolcz.

General Gorgey was generally considereda proud and sensitive man. Presuming thisto be his character, his Polish commander-in-chief treated him judiciously and delicately,by requesting Mr. Kossuth to reward thisact of obedience on the part of the refrac-tory General. He proposed, if Gorgey^s move-ment proved successful, to raise that officer tothe command of a division. It ought to beadded, that Dembinski was aware of the offen-sive general order which Gorgey had addressedto his troops.

General Shlick, meanwhile, relying on Gor-gey's previous inactivity, made preparations for

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DEMBINSKI AND GOBGEY. 193

an advance upon Miskolcz, for the purpose ofpreventing the junction of the two Hun-garian corps. Dembinski, who anticipated thismanoeuvre, concentrated a force of 10,000 menunder the Colonels Shulz, Poltenberg, andAulich, at St. Peter, near Miskolcz, whileColonel Klapka was ordered to make a rapidadvance upon Mezo-Kovesd. The object ofthis manoeuvre was to compel the Austrians toexpose Szolnok and the line of railway fromthat place to Pesth.

While these operations were in progress, andwhile the commander-in-chief waited at St.Peter for Colonel Guyon's brigade, which hadbeen directed to join him, he was surprised bythe arrival of an officer from Debreczin with averbal order from the President Kossuth, in-structing him to send 10,000 men of Gorgey'scorps to Szegedin, there to operate againstWindishgratz and Shlick. Dembinski refusedto make so important and, in his opinion, sofatal a movement on the strength of a verbalmessage. He demanded a written order, andat the same time he deprecated the President'sinterference. Mr. Kossuth, who overlookedthe most flagrant disobedience on the part ofGorgey, gave this act of Dembinski's the most

o

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19* THE WAS IN HUNOAHT.

unfavourable interpretation and professed toremember it for a loug time.

The next days passed amidst continual mis-understandings and attempts on the part of theHungarian officers to fix a quarrel upon tlieJrcoalmander-in-chief. His orders were evadedwhenever evasion was possible; if impossible,they were reluctantly and negligently executed.General Gorgey wrote offensive and impertinentletters, asking what had become of his divi-sions? where they were marching to ? whetherhis commander would guarantee the safety ofliis baggage?—evidently with the intention ofcompelling Dembinski to submit his plans anddiscuss his operations with the officers underhis command. The Hungarian generals werepartial to councils of war : Dembinski, actingon the experience of his former campaigns, re-fused to state his plan of operations, or add tohis orders the motives and reasons he hadfor giving them. The one instance in whichhe departed from this ride of conduct bymeeting Gorgey on the 24th February, andinforming him of the exact nature and objectof his operations, was not calculated by itsresult to encourage him to repeat the experi-ment. It was Dembinski'a intention to attack

DEMBINSKI AND GOKQEY. 195

the Austriana at Mezo-Kovesd, and if possibleto occupy Szolnok and the tele in pont on theleft bank of the Theiss. Gorgey and the chiefof his staff, Colonel Bayer, endeavoured to dis-auade him from this plan, and finally, by theirreports of Shriek's force and movements, theysucceeded in impairing the dpspatch and con-

uently the success of the expedition. Noras this all. Nowthatthe responsibility of the.

operations lay with a foreigner, Mr. Ssemere,the commissioner attached to the army, dis-played a culpable negligence. He reported that

o weeks' provisions for 10,000 men had beenStored at Tisza-Fiired. "When the commander-

-chief inspected those depots, ho found thatprovisions were scarcely sufficient for a

.couple of days. And yet, in all his letters toMr. Szemerc there recurs the earnest entreaty:* Pray remember the troops I'—' For God's

.ke ! pray collect bread and meat!'In spite of all this ill-will, and in spite of all

these obstacles, General Dembiiiaki reachedErlan on the 28th of February. Here he fixed

head-quarters, with the intention of tempt-g the Austrians to an attack, that thereby

they might lessen their garrison at Szolnok.He was consequently anxious to let the Im-

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196 THE WAS IN HUNGARY.

perialists know of his presence at Erlau. Thestratagem succeeded. Strong detachments,12,000 men, foot, horse, and artillery, fromSzolnok, advanced on hia left to Arokszallas.Prince WiudishgriitZj who hastened from Pesthto superintend the operations against the re-doubtable Pole, fixed his head-quarters at Hat-van, and a corps of 6000 men took up a strongposition at Gyongyos. Geueral Shlick was atPeteirasar, endeavouring to effect a junctionwith the troops wliich crowded the space be-tweeu Hatvan and Gyiingyos. Verpeled waathe only point of junction on this line; for onany other route it would have taken Shlickthree days to reach either of the two places.His corps was watched by Colonel Klapka,who marched to Verpeled on the 26 th February.The other divisions were concentrated at Kn-polna, Dobro, and on the right bank of theTorna. Everything was preparing for a generaland decisive engagement. Damjanich was Bentto take Szoluok, while General Shlick, lothto advance by Verpeled, sought to join thecorps of Ids Commander-in-chief by a circuitousroute.

A few days before the battle which hadbeen preparing by these marches and counter-

197

marches, Gorgey came to Dcmbinski's quar-ters. The commander took him aside, saying,'General, we are on the eve of a decisivebattle. Tell me honestly, may I rely on the

i gallantry of your troops?' Gtirgey'a replyH w a s short. ' N o ! ' said he, 'not by any

means tJ And after a few moments, remem-bering Gnyon's victorious assault upon the

i UrauiUko, he added, ' Give them a villagen t a wood to storm, and they'll do it; but

if you show them the enemy in the plain,

•

they will not stand fire for five minutes.'On the afternoon of the 29th of Febniary,

Colonel Klapka, whose position waa at Vcrpeled,where he was instructed to look to his rightand stop General Sldick, if that officer at-tempted to advance through the valley ofPetervasar, commenced an action with theAustrian troops on his left, near Kapolnti.Colonel Pdlteuberg'a brigade waa brought intoaction again-it the Imperialists, who defeatedthe two corps and attacked Kapolna. Theconfusion which followed is iudcscribablc.* Nobody,' to use the emphatic expression ofthe officers and soldiers who fought on theoccasion—'' nobody commanded at Kapolna.'The divisions were led singly into fire, ad-

193 THE WAH IN HTJHGAEY.

vancing or retreating imsupported. Some ofthe officers left the Geld; they knew notwhat position their battalions were to defend,and they preferred removing their troops,to seeing them swept away in the generalconfusion. At a later period of this dis-orderly and unauthorized engagement, jurtwhen all the detacliraeuta and divisions were infull retreat. General Dcmbineki, attracted bythe cannonade, and attended by Gorgey andBayer, hastened from Erlau to Kapolna.Within gun-shot distance from the village,they were met by the whole of the Commis-sariat in fall flight. After them came smallparties of Hoiiveds and hussars, each carryingthe spear of an Imperialist laueer. In despiteof these trophies, they were bent upon gettingaway from the scene of the combat. Scaredby the rout, Gorgey would have joined theirflight but for the remonstrances of his chief,who compromised the affair by despatchinghis refractory junior with orders to Lien-tenant-Colouel Szekulit, at Raab. This done,the gallant Pole hastened on towards Kapolna,placing the troops, which were upheld solelyby their undisciplined bravery, under thecommand of their proper officers, whom he

BATTLE OF KAPOLNA. 199

rallied, and thus restored the equilibrium of thefight. While the commanders of corps anddivisions were retreating on all sides, and whilethe Imperialists were still pouring a shower ofrockets and shells upon the village, GeneralDembinski, establishing himself on the con-tested ground, addressed a general order tothe troops with the date of ' Head-quarters atKapolna.'

The boldness of this measure insured its suc-cess. The Colonels Klapka and Poltenberg,who were retreating from their positions atVerpeled and Dobro, retraced their steps andresumed their places in the line. The battlewas over for the day, and the head-quarters ofthe army were actually established at Kapolna,In the course of the night Prince Windishgratzbrought up his troops with a view to a freshattack on the following morning. GeneralDembinski too made his preparations, by order-ing three divisions under the Colonels Aulich,Kmetty, and Guyon, to come up before day-break and support his centre at Kapolna. Theorders to this effect were entrusted to ColonelBayer, the chief of Gorgey's staff, who tookcharge of them at seven in the evening, andwho promised to deliver them before one

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200 THE WAR IN HtFNQAKY.

o'clock on the following morning; but byBayer's treachery, Aulich alone received hisorder in time. The order to Guyon was de-livered at four, and that to Kmetty at sis o'clocknext morning. Thus when the Hungarianarmy went into battle, two important divisionswere wanting in places where their presencehad been calculated upon by the Coiniuander-in-Chief,

At daybreak on the morning of the 29th ofFebruary, there waa a movement among thedense masses of Imperialists on the heightsround Kapolna and the neighbouring villageof Nagyfalu. Large bodies of infantry werepushed, en. eehelon, from the right to the left.At seven o'clock, aa Prince Windishgriitz, witha brilliant stair, rode down the line, the air wasrent by the wild shouts of the troops, whichnow for the first time expected to meet therebel soldiers in a pitched battle. On eitherside, the issue of that battle was looked to withhope and anxiety. Thirty-nine thousand Iin-perialists were couccutratcd before Kapolnajthirty-six thousand Hungarians tinder Dem-benski's command, occupied the country on theother aide. If the Hungarians gained the

BATTLE OF KAPOLNA. 201

battle, they had opened the road into Austria.If the Austrians prevailed, there was nothingto prevent their march to the Lower Theias,the stronghold of Magyarism,

As Prince Windishgratz passed down thebattle line, the word of command was given,and the tirailleurs, lancers, cuirassiers, andlight-horse, swarmed out of the compact masseson the hills and approached the Hungarianposition at Kapolna, where Dembinski, withtwo battalions (the whole of his centre, until

PGuyon and Kmetty should have come up),awaited their arrival behind the hollow banksof the mountain stream which skirts the village.The bridge across this stream was barricaded,and flanked by field-pieces in battery. TheImperialists attacked Kapolna and Nagyfalu(about a gunshot's distance) almost simul-taneously. Their skirmisherSj after reconnoi-

• tring the Hungarian position, fell back, and aterrible cannonade commenced upon the village,which Dembiuski left the last of all his troops.

Prince Windishgratz occupied Kapolna, anda just sending his artillery in pursuit, when

Colonel Anlicfi opened fire with his batteries.Dembinski himself, rallying his troops, pre-


pared to attack the village. His van wascomposed of an Italian regiment. Thesesoldiers entered Kapolna without pulling atrigger, and when within call of the Impe-rialists, they hoisted the Austrian coloursand deserted. Their Colonel was afterwardstried and executed, by order of Prince Win-dishgratz.

General Dembinski had scarcely time to re-cover from the shock of this treachery, when hewas astounded by the sudden cessation of thecannonade on the part of Aulich's artillery.That officer saw his left wing threatened byfour Austrian batteries and retreated accor-dingly. Dembinski, supported only by ColonelPsotta, with 400 hussars and six field pieces,held out, and detained the Austrians in Ka-polna until one o'clock in the afternoon, whenhe reluctantly gave his sanction to ColonelAulich's retreat, by directing him upon Porosslo.Later in the afternoon, Colonel Guyon's divisioncame up, and the battle was renewed by himagainst the whole strength of the Imperialistarmy with strong chances of success forthe Hungarians. But Gorgey, who was atKerescend, at the distance of. five gun-shots

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BATTLE OF KAPOLNA. 2 0 3

from the hostile lines, interfered in favourof the Austrians. He sent to the Colonelswho took part in the engagement and orderedthem to fall back. Guyon, always true tohis duty, referred the bearer of the order tothe Commander-in-chief; but Colonel Polten-berg of Gorgey's corps, retreated beyondKerescend. The Imperialists could now con-centrate their forces against Guyon, who wasalone and unsupported. Kapolna, which hadbeen so hotly contested, remained in theirhands; and but for the exertions of Dembinski,Guyon, and Psotta, the Hungarian forces onthe Theiss would have been put to the rout.As it was, the head-quarters remained atKerescend during the.night; on the two fol-lowing days the army retreated in good orderto Mezo-Kovezd and Porosslo.

General Gorgey, when called upon to accountfor the fatal order which defeated his owntroops at Kapolna, pleaded the danger of theirposition. He thought they might be cut offon their right. It was afterwards proved thattheir right was protected by a detachment ofKlapka's corps.

On the ist of March, when General Dem-

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binski's head-quarters were removed from Po-roaalo to Ivanka, Klapka's corps engaged ina skirmish with the Imperialists at Tarmos,and retreated upon Porosslo. On this occa-sion, Gtirgey, scared by the report of thedistant cannonade, left his position in theline without seeing the enemy, and retreatedupon Ltiva.* That same night, he hastenedfrom Ltiv* to Porosslo, against the expressorders of his commander, who directed Guyon'scorps upon Ivanka, and desired Gorgey to waituntil that brave officer should have come up.The following day, Dembinski and Gorgeymet at Porosslo j and the latter, when chargedwith his crime, disarmed the wrath of his chiefby confessing his fault with a great show ofhumility and penitence.

On that day it may with justice be said

• General Dembinski's opinion of this conduct is em-phatically expressed in his despatches. He says:—' Thiswas too bad. It was the same proceeding which had shockedme at Kapolna. He was afraid to be cut off, and ranaway without orders or authority. My reply to his adju-tant was, 'Tell your general that there is no differencewhatever between a general who runs- away from his post,and a sentry who goes off before the relief comes.''—Report Qf the 16th March, 1849.

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DEMMNSKIS CLEMENCY.

of General Deinbinski, that he connived atGorgey's crime. When the fate of armies andnations may be marred by the cowardice, in-subordination, or treachery of one man, noprudential considerations, no motives of falsehumanity, ought to stand between that man and

Ithe doom which the military codes of all nationsand times pronounce against the soldier whodisobeys the orders of his general, who leaves hispost on the day of battle, or who intentionallyand maliciously favours the operations of the

Ienemy. Of two of these crimes Gorgey waaConvicted; of the third he was suspected.General Deinbinski shrank from the painfulduty which devolves upon a commander under•uch circumstances. He evaded it by reportingthe matter to the President Koasuth, who,thereupon, announced his intention of repairingto the head-quarters, for the purpose of 'ad-justing the differences between Gorgey and hiaCommander-iu -chief. '*

KThat General Dembineki wiia fully sensible of Gorgey's

inlcB,ia proved by his reports to Mr. KoBBnth. He says,Mr. Commissioner Szemere had not assured me that

you, air, intended to come to Titnm-Fured within the ne*tfew hours, I would have given my orders for the arrest of

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206 THE WAE IN HDNQAET.

Dembinski's evasion of Ilia duty as Com-mander-in-chief was soon to be punished bythe IOSH of his command. Gijrgey, emboldenedby a clemency which men of a certain stampare prone to mistake for weakness, multipliedhis acts of insubordination. He disobeyed theorders that were sent to him. He ceased re-porting his movements to the Commaridcr-in-chief. The operations against the Austrianarmies came to a stand-still for want of con-cert, and the army was reduced to that defen-sive attitude which the Austro-Magyar officersloved so well. The next step was a conspiracyagainst Dembinski. Already, on a former oc-casion, had Colonel Klapka secretly and bynight left his position on the outposts for thppurpose of conferring with Giirgey. Theseconferences were now open and frequent,The Government Commissioner Sacmere sup-ported them, and the Colonels ftepasy and

GflDernl Gorgey. But, of course, I could not but believethat BO many instances of criminal ineubordiimtion andCowardice were not sufficiently punished by a simple direst.1 expected that the powers of the Government, if oncebrought to benr upuu the trail Hgreiwar, would effcutuailj"prevent bun from doing harm to tile cause.'

MUTINY. 207

Aulich took part in the plot. On the 4th ofMarch, the four officers appeared at the Com-mander-in-chiefs quarters at Tisza-Fiired.Gorgey, the leader and spokesman, informedhis superior officer that the troops had no con-fidence in him, and that henceforward he wasexpected to communicate his plans to theofficers under his command. Dembinski re-fused, and an hour afterwards he was told byMr. Szemere that, acting as Mr. Kossuth'srepresentative, he transferred the command ofthe army to General Gorgey.*

Insults and outrages were heaped upon thedeposed General. Colonel Bayer, the chief ofGorgey's staff, came to seize his papers anddespatches. On Dembinski's refusing to sur-render them, a corporal's guard was posted in

* Dembinski's reply to the conspirators ought in justiceto be quoted wherever mention is made of his previousfault. He said, * The same request was made to me in thecourse of my Lithuanian campaign. I met it with aperemptory refusal, and said, * I'd fling my cap away if Iknew it inquired into my plans.' It is now eighteenyears since I commanded in Lithuania. I have since re-considered my views on war, and my will has improvedin determination. You may break me, as you do steel;you can never bend me to your will.'

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208 THE WAR IN ffUNGABY.

the corridor, and Bcntries wonid bave beenstationed in his room, but for his adjutant, whoshut the door and turned the key. A guardwas then placed at the door, and the com-mander of the Hungarian army remained aprisoner until the President KoBsutb arrivedat Tisza-Fiired, when he was sent for andcalled upon to reply to the accusations ofGorgey. On the same day, Meszaros was de-puted to negotiate with the deposed General.He Baid that the President had the will,but not the power to punish Gorgey; thatDembinski was not required to resign his com-mand j but that for the sake of the cause ofHungary and of freedom, he must submit to bedeclared incompetent, lest Gorgey'a mutiny,by appearing unjustifiable, should demoralizethe army. Dem I in ski owed it to liimself andto the cause he served to resist this pitiableappeal. Yielding to his feelings rather than toMB conscience, he consented. Kossuth declaredthat Dembinski had been justly deposed, andthat Gorgey's mutiny had tbe excuse of im-perative necessity. It is impossible to con-clude this account of Derabinski's merits andclaims to confidence more fitly than by quot-

MUTINY. 209

ing his prophetic appeal to Mr. Kossuth: € Youhave given dignity, power, and your own fateinto the hands of the man who, of all others, ismost dangerous to the cause of Hungary. Godforbid lest you and the country suflFer for it !'*

Dembinski's Despatches.

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210

CHAPTER VII.

Delays.—Hatvan and Godollo.—Operations in Transyl-vania.— Close of the Winter Campaign. —> MilitaryExecutions.—Treatment of Prisoners.—The Constitu-tion of the 4th March, 1849.—A Choice of Ev i l s . -Declaration of Independence.—Discontents.—Concilia-tory Measures.—Schemes.—Gorgey's Choice.—GeneralHentzi.—Siege of Buda.—Treason.—A Crisis.—TheAppeal to Russia.—The Russian Intervention.

AMONG the last operations under Dem-binski's command was the occupation, by

Damjanich's division, of Szolnok. A rail-road connects Pesth with Szolnok ; and thepossession of this place, which commands thecrossings of the Theiss, had long been covetedby the Hungarians. At the end. of Januaryit had been assaulted and taken by GeneralPerczel, who with his free corps defeatedan army of 20,000 Imperialists, driving themacross the Theiss, and along the line ofrailroad to Szegled. He took twenty piecesof cannon and 1800 prisoners; 1200 Aus-trians, among them General Ottinger, werekilled in the battle. On this occasion the

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21t

chief depot at Pesth was threatened, andmeasures were taken for its removal. Butthe danger arising from the footing the Hun-garians had obtained in the plain between theTheiss and the Danube was averted by a suddenthaw. Perczel retraced his steps to the leftbank of the Theiss, to prevent being cut offfrom Debreczin and the bulk of the Theissarmy. After Dembinski's operations at Folgar,and after the scene of the war had, under hiacommand, again been transferred to the plainbetween the Theiss and the Danube, the occu-pation of Szolnok on the 5th March, asopening a direct road to Pesth, became anevent of great importance. Dembraski hadconcentrated 23,000 men in and aroundSzolnok, while a corps of 24,000 occupiedthe passage across the river at Tisza-Fiired.It was MB phm to reinforce these troops by17,000 men, and with a powerful array of40,000 to attack Prince Windishgrata atMaklar, to cut him off from Pesth, and todrive him upon Erlau and Mezo-Kovesd. Thismanoeuvre was certain of success; it wouldhave shortened the campaign by four weeks.The event showed that weeks, and even days,

' were of vital importance to the cause of Huu-7 2

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gary. Gorgey's conspiracy, and Mr. K.ossuth*sweakness, prevented the esecution of Dem-binski's plan. In vain did that officer, evenafter MB deposition, tender his advice, entreat,and even implore, Kossuth. to reward GeneralDanijanieh'a success, and reinforce him, if notwitb 17,000, at least with 15,000 men. Vainwas hia prediction that the bridge of Tisza-Flired would probably be lost from want ofmoral power, bat that the bridge of Szolnokwould certainly be lost from the want of a suffi-cient number of troops. His advice and hisentreaties were alike unheeded, and althoughthe operations which the young Hungarianofficers comrueuced were crowned witb success,there is reason to believe that the same advan-tages might have been obtained at a smallersacrifice of time and men, and that tlie subse-quent victories of Mr. Kowsuth's armies wereowing rather to the fabulous bravery of theyoung Hungarian levies than to the general-ship of their leaders.

The main army of the Hungarians, underGdrgey, Kiapka, Damjanich, and Poltcnbcrg,resumed its operations in the latter half ofMarch. Advancing from Szolnok to Szegled,they attacked and defeated Jellachich at Tapio

HATVAN AND G O D O X T A 213

Biski, and pursued him to Isaszegh, wherehe was backed by General Shliek's corps,which, however, could not save him the dis-grace of another defeat. Prince Windishgratz,who brought his army to the rescue of hislieutenants, met the Hungarians successivelyat Hat van and Godollo. Here again the goodfortune and the bravery of the Hungariantroops prevailed. Windishgratz retreated fromthe field of battle, and sought to collecthis shattered forces on the Rakosh plainnear Pesth, while the Ban Jellachich, alarge hostile army interposing between himand his leader, made a rapid and disorderlyretreat to the Lower Danube, where hisown province, the Banat, was threatened bythe advance of General Perczel. That officerwho, on the 3rd of April, gained a battle overthe Servians, at St. Thomas, and who, thoughrepulsed at Titel, had been able to effect a junc-tion with another corps of Hungarians underGeneral Vetter, attacked the Ban at Waras-din, and compelled him to retreat uponKanisha.

Prince WiudiahgrHtz, encamped on theRakosh plain, was preparing to defend thecapitals of Buda and Pestli against the Hun-

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garians, whose light horse surrounded andharassed his army. He fortified the twocities on which the centre of his forces leant,but the Hungarians, while they occupied theImperialist commander on the Rakosh, andby feigned attacks led him to believe thatthey were watching their opportunity for apitched battle, withdrew their troops from theplains, and marching up the Danube toWaitzen, defeated the Austrian corps underGeneral Gotz, which held that city. Gotz,who fell in the streets of Waitzen, was buriedwith military honours. On the 18th April, theinsurgent army routed another Austrian corpsunder General Wohlgemuth, at Nagy Sarlo,and two days later they defeated a corps of freshtroops under General Welden, at Pered. Theyentered Pesth, relieved the garrison of the for-tress of Komorn, and forced the passage of theDanube at Atsh on the 26th April. On the3rd May they crossed the river Waag, at Zered,defeated the Imperialists at Altenberg, tookthe cities of Neutra, Raab, Tyrnau, and Wiesel-burg, and threatened Presburg and the Aus-trian capital.

The successes of the Hungarian arms werenot confined to the territories on the banks of

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0PEKATI0H8 IN TRANSYLVANIA. 215

the Theiaa, the Danube, and the Waag.General Bern, who, after his unsuccessful attackupon Herrmanstadt, on the 7th February, hadbeen compelled to assume a defensive positionat Stolzenfels, met General Puehner and theImperialists again at Bicski, and defeated themto such an extent that no obstacle could bethrown in the way of his advance againstKronstadt and Herrmanstadt, the capitals ofTransylvania and the central points of the

i'Saxon, that ia to Bay, of the German dis-tricts of that province. The assistance of aRussian corps, which occupied the adjacentTurkish principalities of the Danube, was soli-

• cited by the Saxon population, and readilygranted. Herrmanstadt and Kronstadt were

(occupiedby Russian brigades. Engaging theseon the 14th of March, General Bern forcedthem back into Wallaehia, and after com-pelling the remainder of Puchner's Austriansto follow their example, he completed the con-quest of Transylvania on the aoth of the samemonth, and organized the administration of theprovince and its defence against future inroadsof the Russians.

Thus closed the winter campaign of 1849,•with the total defeat of all the invading armies.

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216 THE WAE IN HUNGARY.

Mr. Kossutb's energy and unparalleled powersof agitation—the historic gallantry of theMagyar people—the unpopularity of the Aus-trian rule, and the mistaken policy of theImperialist generals: their attempts to capturethe rebels rather than to suppress the rebellion—their security, indolence, and the brutality bywhich they arrayed against themselves all ranksand classes—all these circumstances combinedto rescue Mr. Kossuth's party from the destruc-tion they courted by their private quarrels.The insurrection of the Hungarians againstthe foreign invader will always remain a sub-ject of just admiration in the history ofmodern times. That small national armywhich struck the first blow against Jella-chich had in the course of the campaign in-creased to several hundred thousands of men.Persona who but a few mouths before wereprofoundly ignorant of the art and practice of•war, were now trailed to the field and triedin battle against the old regiments of theempire. A nation whose indolence had becomeproverbial, was in possession of vast and efficientmilitary workshops and factories. About theend of April the sinnies under Mr. Kossuth'scommand numbered 400,000 ineiij in thirteen

CLOSE OF THE WINTER CAMPAIGN. 2 1 7

corps, and consisted of 67 regiments of regularinfantry, 21 regiments of Honveds, 6 battalionsof foreign auxiliaries, 2 regiments of artilleryof 1000 men each, a carabinier corps of 1600men, 6 regiments of rifles, 28 regiments ofImssars, 14 regiments of mounted Honveds, and% regiments of mounted rifles. Of these troopsabout 190,000 were fully armed and equipped;the rest were armed with scythes, axes, pitch-forks, and lassoes.

It is true that these marvels were not pro-duced by agitation alone, but that strong, andsometimes tyrannical measures were resortedto by Kossuth and the Committee of De-fence ; that patriotism was, in many instances,goaded on by terrorism; and that sacrificesfor the cause of the country were not onlydemanded but frequently extorted. In thecourse of his Servian campaign, GeneralPerczel, after the taking of Neusatz, pressedall the male Servians, between the ages offifteen and forty, into his corps. The expensesof the war were chiefly defrayed by atssignatxon the national property, which Mr. Kossuthcaused to be printed, and of which the accept-ance, in lieu of payment for services and stores,was enforced under heavy penalties. After the

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evacuation of Pesth by the Austrians, the par-liament, then sitting at Debreczin, issued aterroristic decree against the persons and pro-perties of those who, during the Austrian occu-pation of the capital, endeavoured to form alegion for the suppression of the rebellion.E. Miskey and Hoffner, who took office underthe Austrians, were tried by court-martial andshot. Catholic priests, who were suspectedof favouring the cause of Austria, were per-secuted, .and in many instances put to deathby the Magyar commissioners and officers.Thus was the Rev. Mr. Mericzay, an old priestin the diocese of Waitzen, executed by theorder of General Damjanich. The vicar ofEoka and four other ecclesiastics were shot.A. Krasznanski, the archdeacon of Saros, wasill-treated, arrested, and taken to Kashau.Thirty other priests were held in close confine-ment because, in 1848, they had refused topromulgate Mr. Kossuth's proclamations. InTransylvania the Protestant pastors Roth andBinder were shot by the troops of GeneralBern. In the same provinces General Czetzdecreed the execution of two priests—Grei-sing, of Kronstadt, and Wellman, of Fogo-rash. It will always be impossible to deter -

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MIUTAET EXECUTIONS. 219

mine whether these persons and others sufferedfor real political crimes, for violations of thatstrict discipline which thenilera of a country inwar are bound to enforce, or whether they werepunished for their opinions rather than for oxeriacts. Certain it is, that the official lists ofpersons tried and executed by Mr. Kossuth andhis lieutenants, which were published by theAustrian government, cannot be relied on asindicative of the degree of terrorism which thenational government of Hungary employed indealing with its subjects. For while these listsquote hundreds of political martyrs whom theHungarian chiefs are alleged to have put to deathfor their attachment to the house of Austria, itis proved that the majority of these pretendedmartyrs suffered death for larceny, robbery,espionage, or mutiny—crimes which the courts-martiul of alt countries and of all times havevisited with capital punishment. All those ne-cessary acts of rigour by which the internaldiscipline of an army is maintained in war,have by the Austrian government been repre-Bcnted as acts of political persecution. In this,us iu many other instances, the antagonisticparties are at pains to conceal the truth.

Enough has, however, transpired to show

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220 THE WAB IH HTTNGABY.

that Mr. Kossuth's rule was neither so san-guinary as his enemies pretend, nor so mildand averse to the shedding of blood as someof hia partisans endeavoured to represent. Hedid not compel the Hungarians in a body tojoin hia banner and fight with him againstAustria; hut, in many instances, compulsion wasresorted to, and his order's were enforced withseverity at all times, and sometimes with harsh-ness. "With respect to the Austrian prisonersalone, the President of the Committee of De-fence and his generals showed a uniform, though,under the circumstances, scarcely a judicious,kindness and humanity. The Austrians treatedthe captive Hungarians as rebels and not asprisoners of war; the Hungarians seemedto consider their captives as masters. TheAustrians ill-treated their prisoners as cri-minals of the worat kind, whom to punishwas at once a duty and a pleasure. Thecommon soldiers were robbed, deprived of allthe necessaries ot life, and enrolled in 'penalcompanies.* Some were sent to fight thebattles of Austria in Italy; others were keptto hard labour in the Bohemian and Ger-man fortresses. The captive officers were sen-tenced to imprisonment or death. After the

TBEATMEKT OF FHISONEES. 221

surrender of Leopoldstadt, Baron Mednyanski,an officer, and Gruber, an artilleryman, werehanged at Presburg. Ordiidy, the com-mander of the place, was condemned to eightyears' confinement with hard labour. Gorgey'sclemency to his captives lias already beenmentioned. Mr. Kossuth's conduct waa equallyhnmane. The foreign officers alone, and amongthem Dembinski, sought to alleviate the mise-ries of the captive Hungarians by threats ofretaliation. Dembinski, in particular, declaredthat he would shoot a captive Austrian officerfor every Magyar whom the Austrians shouldexecute during his command, and it appears thatthis threat had its effect for a time. He, too,was a strenuous advocate of an invasion of Gal-licia, but the Hungarian chiefs, although theyassented to the principle, opposed the plan ongrounds of expediency. Giirgey'a motives, eveuat that time, were sufficiently plain. But Mr.Kossuth, long adhering to his original idea of anatwnal agitation, showed a fatal desire to con-fine the war to the Hungarian territory, anda strange reluctance to carry matters to ex-tremities.

At that time, however—in April and May,1849—his very successes carried him onwards.

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Battle after battle had beeu gained by the youngarmies of bis creation; one Austrian corpsafter another was driven across the frontiers.The question. What was next to be done? be-came daily more pressing. It left Mr. Kos-suth's private councils, where it found no sa-tisfactory solution, and obtruded itself uponthe parliament. A compromise with Austriawas not to be thought of. The deputies remem-bered Count Louis Batthyanyi's mediation, andhis captivity. In former times, indeed, theinsurgent cliief Rakoczy had, under similar cir-cumstances, wrung a treaty from the Imperialgovernment of the day, and that treaty badobtained the sanction and guarantee of thegreat Kuropean powers. But the young Em-peror his family, Count Griinne, and the primeminister Sliwarzenberg, had given sufficientproof of their determination to obtain all ornothing iu Ilungary. Taking for their pretestthat rebellion, which JellachicVs invasion pro-voked, and their own injudicious severity fos-tered, they wantonly and pubb'cly broke' thebond which for three hundred years unitedAustria and Hungary.

The Austrian constitution of the 4th ofMarch, 1S49, ignored the existence of Hungar;

TEE CONSTITUTION OF 1849. 223

aa an independent kingdom under the Aus-trian crown. By it the kingdom was dis-membered, its ancient rights and privileges

(abolished, and its people placed on a footingwith the most dependent provinces of theempire. The war waa made, not to restoreto the HabsburgH those limited sovereign rightswhich they could justly claim in Hungary,

tbnt to conquer that country throughout and inthe fullest sense of the term, and to incorporateit with the rest of the Austrian monarchy,for this purpose did the array of Prince Win-

tdishgr&tz invade Hungary. For this purpose•were the early successea of that army followedIjy the publication of a charter which abolishedthe ancient and legal connexion between theHabsburgs and their Iluugarian subjects;which cancelled the old coronation compact,and supplanted it by a new cabinet-made law,

H t h a t absolved the Hungarians from theirallegiance in order to procure their subjection.The Austrian charter of the 4th of March,setting aside all liistorical traditions and spurn-

g all precedents of former transactions be-tween the two nations, appealed directly to thesword as the sole arbiter between a. prince whowas resolved to be absolute, and a nation which


was equally resolved to obey only on compul-sion. It established the maxim, that might isright, and the success of a cause the sole teat ofits worth.

The effect of this great political act was notconfined to Hungary. The other provincesand dependent kingdoms of the empire wereequally affected) equally injured, equally in-sulted. They were deprived of their localgovernments and of their hopes of provincialindependence, and compelled to submit to theVienna scheme of centralization. The pub-lication of this charter showed the Sclavoniantribes and the Bohemian Czechs the folly whichthey committed in supporting the Emperor'sgovernment against Hungary; it taught themthat the Magyars, however selfish and arrogant,were the champions of provincial and nationalindependence against the encroachments of abureaucracy, and the usurpation of the Austro-Gennan minority. If Hungary conquered,she broke not her own chains only, but alsothose which bound the Czechs and the Scla-vonians; if victory remained with the Habs-burgs, all parts and provinces of the empirewere alike reft of independence. Hence thecharter of the 4th March, and the violent dis-

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE 4TH MARCH. 2 2 5

solution of the Austrian Diet of Kremsiergained the Hungarians many thousands, ofpartisans among their late enemies; it dampedthe ardour of the stanchest Imperialists, andit identified the Kossuth party with the pre-judices, the hopes, the hatreds, and the exis-tence of the Magyar nation.

This position of the belligerents ought tobe maturely considered. It is not enough tosay that Mr. Kossuth was an ambitious andreckless agitator. Neither his ambition norhis talents of agitation could have accom-plished the task of rousing his nation against abeneficent, a just, and liberal government.The Hungarians had their grievances almostfrom time immemorial. They complained ofthe brutal manner in which the reigning racesought to deprive them of their laws, andto sever them from the customs and tradi-tions to which they, perhaps foolishly, clung.Nor could Mr. Kossuth, either by agitation orterrorism, have converted Hungary into a campand the nation into an army, had not hisambition been fostered by the encroachmentsof the Austrian cabinet, had his agitation notbeen supported by the invasion of the Croatsand Servians, acting with the consent and at

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the instance of Austria. When the invasionwas renewed under Windishgratz, the Aus-trian armies marched at the bidding of a princewho claimed a right which was not recognisedby the Hungarian constitution, and who wouldhave been a usurper even if he had claimed thatconditional allegiance which of right still be-longed to his uncle Ferdinand. But the Em-peror's usurpation went farther: his lieutenantsdeclared that nothing could disarm his wrathbut the unreserved, unconditional surrender ofthe ' rebellious country;' and until that countrylay prostrate at their master's feet, there couldbe no idea of clemency or pardon for its inhabi-tants. Thus much had been said in the hour ofvictory, nor was one single word retracted inthe hour of defeat.

Under these circumstances the parliament atDebreczin were compelled, by their successes,to provide for the future government of thecountry. They were beset by many schemes,of which some were impossible, others dan-gerous. Submission was out of the question.The Regency of an Austrian prince; the In-troduction of a republican constitution, afterthe model of that of the United States; theElection of a Prince of Coburg-Cohary to

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THE CHOICE OP EVILS. 227

the tlirone of Hungary, were in turn canvassed,proposed, and abandoned. To the regency ofan Austrian prince or the royalty of a Coburg-Cohary there was an insurmountable obstacle :the impossibility of finding a pretender tothe crown. The introduction of the Americanconstitution} which was for a time advo-cated by the wilder among the theorists, ap-peared clearly out of season. A country stillrecking with battle-fields, torn by furious fac-tious, and threatened by the power of a greatempire, was peculiarly unfit for political experi-ments. It was generally felt that Hungarywanted neither a representative of her royalty,nor an electionary law baaed on universalsuffrage; that the time and its dangers calledfor a Dictator, and that the supreme powerought to be confided to the most distinguished,the most able, and the most patriotic amongher politicians. Mr. Kossuth was pointed outas the man whom the parliament ought to elect.Ho was identified with the revolution. He hadhelped to make it, and it had made liim. Hisnational agitation and armament, and his de-fensive operations, had just carried the countrythrough a terrible crisis. He of all the leadingmen of Hungary was least known and most

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popular. His fortunes were bound up withthose of Hungary; for of all his countrymenhe was most cordially hated by the Austrians.No personal advantages could ever compen-sate him for the ruin of the national cause.His character was beyond the reach of sus-picion, and no one thought of suspecting hisnerves.

Another consideration had its weight with atleast some of the leading men among that rest*less and ambitious nation. The agitator had asickly appearance; he made the most of hisreal or pretended ailings; it was believedthat his days were numbered. His reign wasnot likely to be of long duration. His increas-ing infirmities, or perhaps his death, wouldopen the road to power to those who were notyet prepared to grasp it.

These undercurrents of thought influencedthe parliamentary debates on the state of thenation. Mr. Kossuth himself took no osten-sible part in them, but he sought to preparethe military chiefs for the result. His over-tures were met coldly by the generals. Theofficers who felt that their real home was inthe ranks of the Austrian army shrunk in-stinctively from any scheme which threatened

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DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 229

to place an insurmountable barrier betweenthem and the object of their ambition.

Their objections, however, were overruled,and even Gorgey was compelled to submit andbide his time. The parliament resolved torepudiate the sovereignty of Austria, to declarethe independence of Hungary, and to appointMr. Kossuth to the dictatorship.

These important resolutions were publiclypronounced on the 14th of April. The LowerHouse, leaving the place where it usually heldits sittings, assembled on that day in theCathedral of Debreczin, where Mr. Kossuthrecounted the history of the early connexion ofHungary with the Habsburgs, their tyrannies,treacheries, and the causes of the war. He pro-tested that the time had come for Hungary tobreak the chains she had worn for three hundredyears of sorrow, that she ought to take herplace among the European States, and that asentence of expulsion should be pronouncedagainst that dynasty of princes whose govern-ment in Hungary presented an uninterruptedseries of perjuries from generation to genera-tion; who had wantonly torn the bond thatbound them to the nation, by forming allianceswith the enemies of the country, for the pur-

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230 THE WAS IN HUNGABY.

pose of oppressing the nation; by attemptingto annihilate its independence and its moatsacred constitution; by attacking with thestrong liand the people which had committedno act of revolt; by violating the integrityand diminishing the power of a country whichthey had sworn to protect, and by employingforeign armies for the murder of the peopleand the oppression of its liberties. It wasnecessary to terminate these atrocities, and aresolution to that effect was asked at the handof the national representatives. The people,the army, the circumstances of the time, theirduty to God, and their honour in the eyes ofthe world, demanded such a resolution, andhe summoned them to assent to the followingpropositions;—

1. That Hungary and Transylvania, with their depen-dencies, now und bj virtue of these presents, shall con-stitute n Tree, independent, sovereign State, whose territorialunity in inviolable, whuse territory is indivisible.

2. Tlie House of llalisburg-Lormim: hnving, by itstreachery, perjury, anil by its levying war against thepeople of Hungary, aa well as by its violation of nil com-pacts—by attracting the integral territory of the kingdom—by lbs separation of Transylvania, Croatia, Sclseonia,Flume, und divera other districts, from Hungary; andfurther, by compassing the destrnotion of the independenceof the country by force of nrnis, nnd by calling in thearmies of u foreign power for the purpose of annihilating

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 231

its nationality, thereby violating both the PragmaticSanction, and certain other treaties concluded betweenAustria and Hungary, on which the alliances between thetwo countries depended: is hereby convicted of treason andperjury, and for ever excluded from the throne of theUnited States of Hungary and Transylvania, and all theirpossessions and dependencies, and is hereby deprived ofthe style and title, as well as of the armorial bearingsappertaining unto the crown of Hungary, and declared tobe banished for ever from the said united countries, andtheir dependencies and possessions. The said House ofHabsburg is therefore declared to be deposed, degraded,and banished for ever from the soil of Hungary.

The third proposition declared the intentionof the Hungarian nation to remain in a state ofamity with all other countries.

These propositions were voted unanimouslyand by acclamation. All the debates hadtaken place in the former sittings of theHouse; and the meeting of the 14th of Aprilwas intended rather as a public solemnity thanas a consultation of the legislature. The sameready assent was given to the fourth proposi-tion, which provided in general terms that thefuture form of government should be deter-mined by the parliament, and that until thispoint should have been decided ' on the basisof the ancient principles which have been recog-nised for ages/ the government of Hungaryshould be in the hands of Louis Kosauth, who



should act as Governing President, assisted bysuch ministers as he should please to appoint.

The last clause of this extraordinary Stateact released the inhabitants and civil and mili-tary authorities of Hungary from their alle-giance to the House of Austria*. It providedthat those who dared to act in opposition tothis decree, or who in any way presumed toaid or abet in violating it, should be punishedas guilty of high treason.

The proceedings of the 14th of April weredecisive for the two countries. They convincedthe Austrian government that Hungary hadaccepted its challenge in the spirit in whichit was given. They furnished the Hungariannation with a solemn precedent for future re-volutions. They did more than this. Theyaroused the envy and spurred on the ambitionof the Hungarian chiefs, many of whom wereopposed to Mr. Kossuth and his influence. Inthe legislature, they assisted the formation ofa party of clerical dignitaries and magnates whorallied around the representatives Kiss, Nyary,and Perenyi, who opposed the Governor to thebest of their abilities. The effect which theDeclaration of Independence produced on thearmy, that is to say, on its officers, was still more

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DISCONTENTS. 233

powerful and fatal. General Gorgey, and theGenerals Kiss, Gaspar, Lazar, Torok, Vecsey,and Klapka, the chiefs of the Austrian sympa-thizers, felt that by the Resolution of the14th of April the gulf was widened whichseparated them from the goal to which theirsecret wishes and intrigues were tending. Withmuch uneasiness and sad forebodings did theycalculate the chances of the success of thatnational cause which they pretended to defendonly because they wished to profit from itsruin. Their patriotism waned with the hope ofa compromise. The national insurrection hadraised them and their kind from the sub-ordinate positions in which it found them.Still they asked with great acerbity whether itwas for this they had fought, and whether Hun-gary should be severed from Austria merely tosatisfy the ambition of a € quill-driver* and' pettifogger V Their bitter regrets and buthalf-suppressed invectives showed plainly howlittle they cared for the nation and its indepen-dence, and how deplorable is the case of apeople whom necessity compels to lower thehighest dignity in the State within the reach ofthe greedy and ambitious.

The Governor Kossuth, indeed, endeavoured

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to repress these rebellious ebullitions, partly bymenaces, and partly by bribes offered to the vain,uneducated, and sensual. His official gazette,the Kozlony, denounced those who at such acrisis preferred their own sordid interests tothe prosperity and the glory of the country.Better had it been for them had they neverbeen born, than that they should dare to stop anenthusiastic nation in its progress to freedom!These newspaper articles which were publishedby Mr. Kossuth's authority, show that theGovernor of Hungary was aware of Gorgey'senmity and the intrigues of his faction, andthat he had the will, but wanted the courage,to repress them.

Promotions, promises of future distinctionsand advancement, flattering letters, in whichvain and selfish young officers were comparedto the heroes of the purest days of ancientBorne—these and other baits were held out tothe commanders of the army, whom theGovernor sought moreover to conciliate bya laxity of discipline unparalleled in mili-tary history, and which in the second cam-paign caused all the commanders of the corpsto act for themselves—thereby defeating thesuccess of all combined movements of large

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CONCILIATORY MEASURES. 2 3 5

masses of troops. Bribes of a grosser kindwere employed where they were less needed.The soldiers and petty officers of the nationalarmies were pre-excellent by courage, devo-tion, and patriotism. Still it was thoughtproper to gain them for the parliamentary de-claration of independence, by double rationsof food, wine, and tobacco—largesses whichastonished the troops, while the malcontentstook occasion to argue that the Governorwould offer no bribe unless he wished the mili-tary to promote aia private views rather thanthe welfare of the country.

The cities for the most part hailed the de-claration of independence with real or pretendedjoy. It is always difficult to discover the realfeelings and motives of the bourgeoisie. Thecitizens, who throughout the revolution sidedwith the strongest party, were in tliis instance

, also the zealous supporters of the HungarianCommonwealth, for that is the appropriate trans-lation of the name which the Governor gaveto the country during the interregnum. At

t Kashau, the change was proclaimed with greatBolemnity, and the pictures of the Ilabsburgprinces were removed from the towu-hall. Illu-minations, popular fetes, and other demonstra-

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tions signalized the event in all other Magyartowns.

Mr. Kossuth's next measures were evidentlyprompted by the desire to connect his newpower with the aristocratic traditions of thecountry, and to impress the public mind with thestability and splendour of his government. Inthe cabinet which he formed, he placed CountCasimir Batthyanyi at the head of foreignaffairs; the secretaryship of the war-depart-ment was thrust upon General Gorgey, to thesignal annoyance of that officer. The parlia-ment offered the Governor the allowance whichunder the former reign had been paid to thePalatine, but he, who had free control ofthe national exchequer, declined the offer. Atthe same time, he strained his virtual irre-sponsibility by laying hands on the treasuresof the church. The gold and silver vesselswhich were, at his command, taken from allthe sacred places in Hungary, were stated atthe time to have furnished him with coin tothe amount of 22,000,000 florins, or about2,2oo,oooZ. He originated the idea, and drewup the statutes, of a new order of militaryknighthood, for courage shown in battle. At hiscommand plans were drawn up and submitted

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SCHEMES. 237

to the parliament, of great public works for theimprovement of Pesth. Among these schemeswere a Palace of the Invalids, public parks onSt. Margaret's Island, and a large harbourand docks. There was a railroad from Pesthto Szolnok—the Governor proposed to con-tinue that railroad to Debreczin. Prepara-tions were also made for the formation of aspecial life-guard of 400 picked men, to attendthe Governor on his journeys, and guard hispalace : and it was announced that the parlia-ment should meet at Pesth.

Those who consider the energy and thevastness of these schemes, must feel thatthey provided for distant and uncertain con-tingencies, while they masked the neglect ofnearer and more sacred duties. Of all theaccusations which have been directed againstMr. Kossuth there is none which strikes sodeep, none which, if proved, so completely con-demns him, as the charge that after his acces-sion to sovereign power, he identified the Statewith himself, instead of identifying himself withthe State. He did not separate his own interestsfrom those of his country (it would have beenimpossible for him to do so), but he consultedhis own likings and dislikings—his own opinions

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and prejudices—his own hopes and fears—inpreference to the safety of the country, and thesuccess of that revolution which he had fos-tered, and from which he derived whateverinfluence, power, and dignity he possessed.He forgot that in times of great danger, thepractical irresponsibility of a public servantadds to the weight of his moral responsibility,and that there are seasons at which a states-man's power is unlimited, not for his own sake,but to meet the extraordinary extent of hisduties. In no one instance is this so clearlyshown as in Mr. Kossuth's connivance at Gor-gey's rebellion and treachery.

That intractable commander accepted thepost offered to him, but remained with thearmy, where he held the chief commandof various corps which, after the battle ofWaitzen, relieved the fortress of Komorn bydefeating the Austrians under General Shlickat Acz. He had the Governor's command tofollow up the advantage hitherto obtained, bypursuing the Imperialists across the frontier,and into the disaffected Austrian provinces.The success of this operation was likely tobe decisive, and if executed with despatchand energy, it would have enabled the Hun-

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GORGET'S CHOICE. 239

garians to dictate their own terms of peace atVienna.

So obvious were the advantages, and socertain was the success of this move, that evenGeneral Gorgey, though resolved not to goto extremes with* Austria, was at a loss howto evade the order without betraying hissecret intentions. In this dilemma he fixedupon the fortress* of Buda, which was stillheld by an Austrian commander. 'Buda,the ancient capital of the Hungarian kings,durst not remain in the hands of the invaders.The minds of his soldiers were bent upon takingit.' Gorgey, whose harshness to the petty officersand soldiers was on record, pretended onsome occasions that his actions were influ-enced by the will of his troops. Meeting theGovernor's positive order to invade Austria withthis pretext, and the promise that he wouldcarry the fortress at the point of the bayonetbefore the third day's sun had set, he, withoutwaiting for further orders, retraced his stepsalong the Danube, and marched upon Pesth.A courier, bearing still more peremptory orders,met him on his way but coul<J not stop hismarch. Gorgey protested it was too late. Toturn back again would be a sign of indecision,

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and fatal to the discipline of the army. It wasperhaps for the purpose of proving his deter-mination that he insisted on retaining thewhole )̂f his cavalry. Fifty-two escadronsof hussars, instead of being sent acrossthe Austrian frontier, were led by Gorgeyagainst a fortress which is situate on a steephill, and which he had promised to take by a

' coup-de-main. In spite of the fear which hisbrutality created, even the citizens of Pesthventured on an indirect remonstrance. Theyimplored him to send his cavalry against Aus-tria, and proposed to supply him, for the esta-fette and orderly service, with a troop of theirmounted national guard. Gorgey treated themscornfully, and dismissed them with great rude-ness. On the 1st of May he established hishead-quarters at Pesth, and made his prepara-tions for the siege of Buda.

It remains a matter of doubt whether ornot this act of insubordination was the re-sult of a secret understanding with the Aus-trian cabinet. Gorgey, the stern republican,that c truly Spartan character/ as Mr. Kossuthsometimes described him, was on intimate termswith the captive Austrian officers, some of whomhe released. As a fortified place, Buda was

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GENERAL I1ENTZI. 241

untenable. Though important as a depot forlarge army, and important also because it

commanded the city of Pesth and the crossingBof the river, it was a place not of honour butof rain for a small and detached garrison. Theholding it was a wilful sacrifice of human lifeand military strength, unless it could be fore-

, seen that the siege would furnish Gbrgey with, pretest for discontinuing the offensive opera-

Jtions against the Austrian frontier. The gar-rison wliicli the Imperialists left at Buda wasemail; it mustered at moat 4500 men, CroatB

nd Italians, mere food for powder. The offi-fcer in command, too, was curiously selected.Major-General Hentzi, a Swiss mercenary in

Emperor's service, had in the course of10 war been a captive in the hands of thelungariana. He had been discharged on

'parole—that is to say, he had pledged hisword, as an officer and a gentleman, to re-

Ijnain inactive to the end of the war; on thestrength of that promise he had been allowed

, to depart. He had broken his promise, andFforfeited all claim to the courtesies of war, by

again taking arms against the Hungarians.Such a man wae not likely to capitulate—dia-

,-honoured, he could not trust to the honour of

242 THE WAK IN HtTNGABY.

Others. Such a man was also most fit to besacrificed; for it is in the nature of power todespise tliose most who most disgrace themselvesin its service. Heutzi was installed in the for-tress, with orders to defend it to the last, andwith a promise that an army should come tohis relief. The men who placed him there knewthat he must perish, unless the siege wereprotracted to a most unreasonable leiigth.

If the Austrian commanders calculated onthe length of the siege, it must be admitted thatGiirgey justified their reliance by the tardinessof his operations. Instead of attempting acotip-de-main, he leisurely distributed his largearmy into regular cantonments, and trencheswere opened and batteries constructed on thehills which command the castle of Buda. SometimCj too, was lost in an attempt to negotiatewith the garrison, to intimidate Hentzi bymenaces, and prevent his bombarding the cityof Pesth. The result was that be bombardedthat city before a gun had been fired by thebesiegers. An enormous amount of propertywas destroyed on this occasion, and through-out the siege, which instead of three, lustedtwenty days. For after a long and useless can-nonade, and several fruitless assaults, Gorgey

THE SIEGE OF BUDA. 243

remembered that, to make a practicablebreach, he must have cannon of heavy calibre.Ordnance was consequently sent for fromKomorn and Acz. Upon its arrival, a breachwas made, and on the morning of the 20thMay, the fortress was carried by assault.Gorgey was innocent even of this tardy suc-cess. The large number of his troops madea certain degree of energy unavoidable, andwhen the breach was practicable, and no pre-tence could be found to delay the assault,Buda fell through the dauntless courage andperseverance of the national army. The com-bat lasted from three to seven o'clock in themorning, when what remained of the gar-rison surrendered to the Honveds. Hentziwas among the victims of the day. Gorgeyentered the fortress an hour after its occu-pation, and issued a bombastic proclamation,announcing the success of his troops, andclaiming it as his own. The ostensible lossesof the Hungarians were confined to the par-tial destruction of Buda and Pesth, and to1700 men killed and wounded. In reality;they had lost twenty-three days and a goldenopportunity. In return, they obtained pos-isession of a fortress, which must needs have

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surrendered, if Hungary conquered her otherenemies, and which was of no value in thecase of another Austriaii invasion. The storesand ammunition which the Imperialists hadnot been able to remove, and which consistedof eighty-three cannon, 1400 cwt. of gun-powder, 2000 cwt. of saltpetre, and 14,000muskets, were of great importance to an army,part of which was but indifferently providedwith weapons; hut larger and more valuablestores were to be had at Presburg, Vienna, andin the various depots of Austria and Bohemia.

Mr. Kossuth, the lawyer, might have par-doned the contemptuous disregard which Gor-gey evinced for his opinion. It was the dutyof Louis Kosauth, the Governor of Hungary,to punish General Gorgey's insubordination,and to prevent the strength and the time ofthe nation being thrown away on a worthlessobject. It was the opinion of all Hungarianswho were familiar with the people and theannVj that the Governor would have run norisk if he had deposed the reliellious general

* and ordered his arrest and execution. Buteveu if there hail been danger of a militaryriot, a true patriot would have considered thatthe worst which could happen to Hungary was

TREASON. 245

subjection to Austria, and that subjection toAustria was certain, unless the Governor couldrepress that licentious disregard of authority ofwhich Gorgey set so flagrant and demoralizingan example.

Mr. Kossuth knew and neglected his duty.He did more. Since his courage could notrise to the level of justice, he stooped to flatterthe criminal. His will was law to the Parlia-ment, and the parliament resolved to promoteGeneral Gorgey to the rank of Field-marshallieutenant, to make him a commander of themilitary order of Merit, and to appoint adeputation of the House to offer him thethanks of the nation. Gorgey met thesedemonstrations in a scornful manner. Afterthe fall of Buda, he conducted his troops toKomorn. Here, again, the orders of thegovernment were positive. To make up forlost time, he was commanded to take theoffensive with great energy, to attack and dis-perse the Austrians wherever he found them,and to prevent the concentration of their forces.Instead of doing this, he remained inactive atKomorn. A few small corps only were de-tached against Oedenburg, Warasdin, andTyrnau. Another attempt was made to re-

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move him from the army which he paralysed.He was again summoned to proceed to Pesth,and enter upon his functions as Secretary-at-War. He appointed his friend GeneralKlapka to the War Office, and sent him toPesth, while he remained at Komorn, anxiousto keep his troops out of action, and whilefresh levies of Austrian troops and old regi-ments drafted from Italy were again swarmingon the frontier and in the districts which theImperialists still occupied.

It is true an invasion of Austria was scarcelyrequired to terminate the war, if the belli-gerents had been left to fight their ownbattles. Hungary, with a small army andyoung troops, had defeated the largest andmost formidable armament which the Austrianempire could bring into the field. The Hun-garian armies were now organized, numerous,and victorious; the Austrian troops werelessened in number and discouraged; thepopulation of Austria was rebellious. Largegarrisons were required to keep the varioustowns and provinces of the empire from insur-rection. Vienna waited for the advent of theHungarians to be revenged for the horrors ofthe siege of October, 1848, and for the cruel-

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A CRISIS. 247

ties and vexations which followed the defeat ofthe democratic party/ Bohemia rememberedstill the promises of March, 1848, and thebombardment of Prague. Gallicia was anxiousto follow the example of Hungary; Styria wasripe for revolt. The Servians, at one time themost useful allies of the court, were dispersed;the Croats were discouraged and disappointed.They had bargained for less fighting and morebooty. Even the Cabinet began to show signsof dissolution. Count Stadion, the primeminister's coadjutor in the ' restoration of themonarchy/ broke down under the burden ofhis responsibility. He went mad. The malepopulation of the provinces was absorbed byheavy conscriptions; the State was over-whelmed with debt, and tottering on theverge of bankruptcy: the deficit of the yearwas enormous; gold and silver had dis-appeared, and in their place paper money, fromtwopence upwards, formed the medium of cir-culation. Even this was halved and quar-tered, to meet the exigencies of the pettytrade.

No great military chief was at hand to restorethe fortunes of the war. Marshal Radetzkyhad done good service in Italy; but in Italy

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he was wanted. Prince Windishgratz was in-capable. He resigned his command evenbefore the battle of Waitzen. His successor,General Welden, owed his escape from theHungarian armies only to G6rgey*s mutinyand the siege of Buda. General Shlick hadbeen most efficient in the last campaign; buthe was not thought equal to the command of alarge army, because his disposition was toomild and humane. The chief command againstHungary was given to General Haynau, anofficer of ferocious energy, whose name becamefirst generally known in connexion with an actof cruel retaliation and bloodshed at Brescia.He was the natural son of a Landgrave ofHesse and a Jewess of the same country. Ofgeneralship he had yet to give proofs; buthis talents for the pacification of a conqueredcountry were notorious. Among his first actswere the trials and executions of several poli-tical offenders and captive officers, whom hispredecessors had left at Presburg. The Cabinetappointed him because they had not a betterman; the soldiers knew nothing of him, andthe officers disliked him. No one believed inhis success.

In this extremity, the Emperor's cabinet,

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though reluctantly and with many misgivings,took a step, of which the importance and theconsequences have never been fully appreciated.They asked for the assistance of a power whoseexistence in the system of European States isof recent date, and whose traditions, form ofgovernment, population, and means and modesof action, are not European. Ever since thepartition of Poland and the wars against Na-poleon, the influence of Russian diplomacyin the affairs of Europe has progressed ina rapid and alarming manner. It is thegood fortune of that marvellous country tocommand the destinies of two worlds; to covetat the same time India and Constantinople;to conquer where it protects, to influence thecouncils of all other nations, and to acknow-ledge no other influence but that of its master.The Russian is a young nation among themature civilization of Europe; her facultiesare scarcely developed; her forces still uncon-centrated. But even in her comparative de-bility, .Russia, by the extent of her territories,by the vastness of her resources, and the num-ber of her subjects, and by her subtle and cau-tious policy, joined to an uncompromising, un-deviating, and truly respectable singlenesa of

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purpose, has come to be the arbiter, and, in amanner, the legislator of the nations of thecontinent. Her power gains upon, and mayone day even surpass, that of Great Britain.In her early wars she has conquered in, andsometimes by, her defeats. It is recounted inthe Memoirs of Mallet du Pan, that after thebattle of Zorndorf, a Dane, on being told thatthe King of Prussia had in that engagementkilled 30,000 Russians, replied, 'No matter;it is so easy for God to make fresh Russians/This flippant remark contains a summary of thereasons why the Russians have generally pre-vailed in spite of the frequent and terriblereverses which befel them in all their wars.Three nations, which at one time were all-powerful on the continent—Poland, Sweden,and Turkey—have been degraded from theirliigh places, stripped of their territories, andbroken to pieces by collision with the in-fant strength of the Russian empire. Whileprotesting that the vastness of its dominionsmakes all foreign conquests burthensomeand even dangerous, that empire has ex-tended its frontiers even in times of peace;it has gained and is still gaining groundon the Baltic and on the Black Sea. The

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THE APPEAL TO RUSSIA. 251

statesmen of Vienna must have rememberedthat the majority of their discontented andrestless subjects belonged to the great Sclavonicfamily, of which the Russians are the mostformidable representatives; that the Czar'sinterests had on more than one occasion clashedwith those of the Habsburgs, and that the sameambition which stimulated the Austrians tothe conquest and subjugation of Italy, in pre-ference to the colonization of their vast Hun-garian and Sclavonian provinces, might pos-sibly have some influence on the sovereigns ofRussia. The last will and testament of Peterthe Great must have been known to them, andthey could not be ignorant of the fact that itsprovisions had hitherto been faithfully executedby the Czars of all the Russias.

But whatever misgivings suggested them-selves to the Emperor's mind, they weresilenced by the necessities of the hour. Aforeign auxiliary was wanted, and Russiaalone was open to an appeal. The GermanStates, with which the Imperial Cabinet wasat issue on a question of sovereignty, wouldhave rejoiced if Austria had stooped to solicittheir help, but they would have refused it.The Prince President of the French Republic

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wanted the power to follow the leanings ofhia mind. Buaaia was in a different positionfrom all the other great powers. The successof the Hungarian revolution would have beenthe ruin of Austria; it would have been asource of the greatest danger to Russia. Shetoo had crushed some nationalities, and nowheld them under by main force. A Hungarianexpedition into Gallicia would have enfranchisedthe Poles of that Austrian province, but itwould also nave carried the fire and sword ofrevolution across the frontier into the Polishprovinces of Russia. The Warsaw insurrectionof 1830 had cost an enormous amount of bloodand treasure. It was obviously in the in-terest of Russia to prevent a repetition of thiscatastrophe,

Hence the successes of the Hungarian insur-rection had been anxiously watched at St.Petersburg. Large armies were concentrated,and occupied the whole length of the frontierwhich separates the Russian dominions fromthe rest of Europe. Poland was a vast camp.Troops poured into Bessarabia and the Turkishprincipalities of the Danube. Even before theCzar had manifested his intention^ bis lieute-nant in Wallachia undertook on his own reapoii-

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aibility the invasion of Transylvania.expedition, though unsuccessful, had the Czar'sapproval; and when his assistance was for-mally asked, he granted it, Rumours thereare, that his desire to support Austria metwith much opposition in his council ofstate. The majority of the senators pro-nounced against the intervention. It pro-mised no advantages in case of success; itmight possibly fail, and it would certainly bea burden to the country. A war, undertakenexclusively for foreign interests, would disgustthe army, which was already discontented.The intercourse with foreign nations woulddemoralize the Russians. Notwithstandingthese arguments, the Czar persisted in hisresolution, which was communicated to thearmy at a grand review, where Nicolaus ofRussia addressing his officers, informed themof his intention to make war upon the Hun-garians, whom he denounced as 'robbers,murderers, aud incendiaries.' The two sove-reigns of Austria and Russia met at Warsaw,on the 20th May, to ratify the alliance. Itwas stipulated that 120,000 troops and 40 bat-teries should enter Hungary through Galliciaand Wallachia, and co-operate with the army

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under General Haynau; that Austria shouldpay nothing for the services of these troops, butthat their maintenance during the campaignshould fall on the Austrian exchequer. TheRussians commenced their march into Gallicia,and a division of 12,000 men under GeneralPaniutine, which preceded the bulk of thearmy, hastened to reinforce the Austrianforces, which were concentrating at Presburg,and which might still have suffered fromGorgey's army. The alliance and its objectwere duly announced to the nations and cabi-nets of Europe. The Governor Kossuth, too,issued a proclamation, in which he protestedagainst the Russian intervention. He de-scribed it as an act by which Austria soughtto carry out her despotic schemes at theprice of the deepest self-abasement; he as-serted that the Hungarians would never re-cognise a king who was the assassin of hissubjects; and he appealed to the generosity,to the liberal instincts, and the interests ofEurope against this propaganda of despotism.

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CHAPTER VIII.

The Russian Invasion.—Kossuth's Measures.—Impos-tures.—Terrorism.—The Palatine Hussars.—Positionsof the Armies.—The Crusade.—Battle of Pered.—Com-bat at Acz.—Klapka's Duplicity.—The Flight fromPesth.—Haynau at Pesth.—Battles at Komorn.

IN the last week of April, 1849, the citi-zens of Vienna were delighted by the dis-

tant thunder of a cannonade, which announcedthe approach of the Hungarians whom theseoppressed people would fain have hailed asdeliverers. Their hopes gained ground fromthe dismay of their rulers, and their exulta-tion was great when it became known thathasty preparations were making to remove thegovernment offices to some place of safety,while the garrison was consigned to the bar-racks, or drawn up in the public squares, readyto march at a moment's notice. The days, andeven the hours, were counted which mightbring a troop of hussars to the gates of thecapital. The 22,000 horsemen whom Gorgeywithdrew from the frontier, and whose services

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were wasted during the siege of Buda, might,at any moment, have raised a million ofauxiliaries to the cause of Hungary. Littlecredit is due to Prince Shwarzenberg forstaking the fortunes of his imperial master onthe cast of a single die. It was a gambler'strick, for Us success, in the face of all thechances, was owing to causes over which theminister had no control, unless it be provedthat he kept up a secret understanding withGorgey, and some other Austro-Magyar leaders.It has before been shown that it is just possibleto vindicate the measures of the AustrianCabinet on the plea of such an understanding;but it is also certain that such a secret—ifsecret there were—remained treasured up intie breasts of the chief conspirators in eithercamp, and the confidence it gave was con linedto a few persons only. The Austrian officersclung to the cause with a stubborn anddespairing tenacity—but the soldiers were de-moralized. Loud wailings were heard from thetransports of young troops as they marchedupon Presburg. They wept, and lamented thefate which drove them to Hungary to beslaughtered.

At this period of unequalled despondency,

THE RUSSIAN INT ASTON. 257

the nations of Austria were officially informedof the Czar's protection. The Vienna Gazetteannounced that ' the extension of the Hun-garian insurrection made it the duty of allStates to protect the Imperial Governmentagainst the dissolution of social order,' andthat ' these considerations induced the Em-peror to ask the armed assistance of theRussian Czar, which that potentate had gene-rously and liberally promised.' On. the 4thand 5th of May, 40,000 Russians, with 12,000hones, entered the Austrian dominions byKrakow ; on the 8th, 15,000 men passed theJrontier at Tarnogrod; on the same day 26,000,

l«nrith 9800 horsea, entered at Brody; and onthe 9th and n th , 17,000 men crossed at"Wolosezyo, and 9000 at Hussatin. All thesetroops were under the command of Field-Marshal Prince Paskievitsh, with whom werethe Generals Iiiidiger and Tsheodajeff. Theyoccupied Gallieia, and remained there inactivefor some weeks, thus showing that theirprecipitate march into Austria was mainlynrged by the Czar's fear of an insurrec-tion among the Gallician Poles. Whenthat province was safe, the movements ofthe auxiliary armies became slow, their de-

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258 THE WAB IN HUNGARY-.

mauds upon the population exorbitant, andtheir treatment of the Austrian officers andlocal magistrates brutal. Part of the Russianforces were conveyed through Prussia, withthe express consent of the king of that country,and to the deep humiliation of the Prnssians,who were alive to the disgrace and the dangersof such a measure.

The Russian troopa which took the fieldagainst the Hungarians were the most iUT

favoured soldiery (not excepting even theCroats) that had been seen in Europe since thegrand irruption of Asiatic tribes in 1813. Theylooked ill-fed, and were for the most partclumsily clothed and armed. The infantrywore helmets, heavy shoes, drawers of coarselinen, and great-coats of rough cloth reach-ing down to their ankles. They had clumsymuskets, with flint locks. The artilleryand part of the cavalry were more carefullyarmed and dressed, but, on the whole, theRussian army showed plainly that the leadersrelied on its numbers rather than on its physicalforce or moral superiority. The soldiers marchedwith a stupid indifference, which was onlyenlivened by the hope of plunder. Theybeliered that those who fell in, a foreign war

KOSSUTH'S MEASURES, 259

rould straightway return to life in their owncountry. The officers were more enlightened,but equally resigned. When spoken to on theabject of the difficulties and dangers of the

aigiij they had but one answer. 'TheCzar commanded us to conquer; his will mustbe done.' They felt, and ostentatiously showed,the greatest contempt for the monarch whomthey came to aid, and believed that if Hungarywere conquered, it would be for the Czarj andnot for the Emperor of Austria.

"While this fresh storm was gathering overHungary, the Governor sought to animate theconfidence of his adherents and to shako the reso-

lution of hia opponents by improving upon andttending the accomplished fact of the declara-

tion of independence. He issued his decrees in"the name of the ' Responsible Government of

Independent Hungarian Empire and its Pra-nces.' He had summoned the Parliament to

meet at Pesth in July. After the capture ofBuda, he established his government in thecapital, and entered Pesth on the jth June with

;al pomp, seated in a state carriage whichformerly belonged to his enemies, the Habs-burgs. Women, dressed in white, scatteringflowers, and bands of music, preceded, mounted.

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260 THE WAB IN BUNQABY.

guards, and a brilliant staff surrounded himas he drove through the dense masses of thepopulace, which had gone out to meet him onhis way. He signalized Ms entry into Pesthby an act of grace in the manner of monarchs,by abolishing corporal punishment in the army,and he addressed the people in an eloquentspeech, assuring them of the sympathies ofEurope and the active support of France. Hemust have been aware that no such BUpportcould be expected from the President of theFrench Republic. Mr. Kossuth's friends, how-ever, protest that he did not wittingly deludethe people with false hopes; that the supportof France was promised by the Provisional Go-vernment in Noveml>er, 1848; that it wouldhave been granted if General Cavaignac hadbeen elected to the Presidency, and that siimonths after the election of Louis Napoleon,Mr. Kossuth was profoundly ignorant of schange in the government of France, which sonearly affected his hopeB for himself and hiscountry. By the action of the allied armies,the government of Mr. Kossuth was indeed cutoff from the rest of the world with respect tothe usual modes of communication. Messen-gers from Hungary were arrested, letters were

IMPOSTURES. 261

intercepted on their way from or into thatcountry. But his spies were bold, devoted,and crafty, and letters were smuggled throughthe midst of the Austrian armies. One of Mr,Kossuth's most serviceable spies—Madame VonBeck—was frequently in the Austrian camp,where the change of government and the cor-responding change of principles in France werewell known. Besides, Mr. Kossuth correspondedwith his foreign agents by way of Turkey.

It is therefore almost impossible to conceivethat the Governor of Hungary could be ignorantof the defeat of that friendly party in Francewhich, six months since, had, through M,Bastide, assured him of its sympathies andpromised its active support. In referring hispeople to the assistance of France, the GovernorKossuth deliberately stated what he musthave known to be untrue. He who hadinveighed against the deceptions practisedby kings and their ministers, committed thecrime he denounced in others the momentlie attempted to play a sovereign's part. LouisKossuth, the democrat, betrayed his want ofrespect for the people which so nobly upheldhim, by suspecting them of a pusillanimityof which the lower classes of that heroic,

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though imprudent, nation had shown no signswhatever. His gratuitous nntroth was aninsult to the nation; it was HIBO a gravepolitical fault, for it raised hopes which thenext weeks must destroy, and it enlisted dis-appointment and distrust on the side of theenemy.

The installation of his government at Peathwas followed by a series of illiberal measures.The property of the Steam Navigation Com-pany was confiscated. Daniel Novak, a jour-nalist, was accused of having, in the JPetiiGazelle, praised an Austrian Archduke, therebyencouraging the inhabitants of Pesth to assistthe Austrians. He was arrested, tried, sen-tenced, and executed if not by the Governor'sorder, at least with hia consent. Anotherjournalist, the editor of the Ungar newspaper,was denounced in a special decree for ' vilify-ing the Anstrians.' The letters of privatepersons were opened at the post-offices. AtTrentshin, for instance, they were opened bya man of the name of Marzibanyi, whom theAustrians afterwards fined 1000L for executingthe Governor's orders in this respect. Thoopening of letters is a breach of trust of whichfew governments are innocent, and the Aus-

TERRORISM. 263

Sj who punished Mr. KoBsuth's agents forviolating the secrets of private correspondence,opened all suspected letters throughout the warand after it.

A t that time the air of Hungary was rankwith suspicion. Every man distrusted hianeighbour. Every one sought to discover aplot or to make one. During the Austrianoccupation of Pesth and its environs, a systemof terrorism oppressed those who were sus-pected of sympathizing with the national cause.Now the tables were turned. The Austrianparty, or those who were supposed to belong toit, were prosecuted and mulcted in heavy finea;properties were confiscated, and several execu-tions are mentioned in the newspapers of thetime. The populace, too, pronounced its ownverdicts and enforced them. Persons who weresuspected of espionage had their ears cut off.There is on record a decree of GeneralShweidler, who commanded at Pesth, de-nouncing the arbitrary ill-treatment of allegedspies, and demanding that such persona shouldbe given up to the courts-martial.

To keep the balance even, it is but just tostate that such practices were not confined tothe Hungarians. The violence of the belli-

r.vi nzcd hjv _ _ _ le


gerent parties was great, and after GeneralHaynau assumed the command of the Imperialarmy, full licence was given to that wantonbrutality which characterizes the Austriansoldiery- In July two clergymen from Dotiswere shot at Haynau's head-quarters at NagyIgmand. In June, the Protestant pastor, Razga,had been shot by Haynau's orders. Nothingis known of the crime of these men. AHungarian agent, who was arrested near Oeden-burg, had his tongue cut out by an Austrianofficer. The tongue was nailed to the church-door of the place. The village of Bo Sakarnywas burned by Haynau, because some of itsinhabitants were accused of having assistedthe national troops in a combat at Csorna.

Less objectionable is the severity shown bythe Austrians in the case of the Palatinehussars, whose devotion to their country oughtto be recorded whenever mention is made of thewar in Hungary. Three troops of the Hun-garian regiment, 'Palatine/ were stationedin Bohemia, where the authorities kept a closewatch upon them to prevent their escape. Inspite of these precautions, some of the mendeserted when the news of the war in their owncountry reached them in their distant canton*

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mentB. It was therefore resolved to send themto the Austrian army in Italy. They marchedin the first days of June ; the officers in com-mand avoided the highroads and large towns,to prevent the hussars from learning the vic-tories of their countrymen and the perilouscondition of Hungary. But on their arrival inStyria, vague rumours of what had happenedcame to their ears; their silence and theiranxious looks warned the officers of the des-perate resolution which each man concealedin his own breast. Messengers were despatched

I for a. detachment of infantry to escort them. Afew hours before the arrival of this escort, atroop of hussars mounting, turned aside fromthe road to Italy, and with their sabres drawn

land their carbines ready, they rode awaytowards Hungary. On the third day of theirflight they crossed the frontier; on the fourththey reached the outposts of their countrymen.

[ Two other troops followed the example of thefirst, but took another road, and came to theStyrian city of Bruck, where a detachmentof Austrian soldiers stopped their progress. l athe skirmish which ensued, twelve of theHussarg were killed, fifty-four severely wounded,and seventy-two captured. A few cut their way

266 THE WAR IN HTTNGAfcY/

through the enemy, and after many hardshipssucceeded in gaining the Hungarian frontier.Of the captives, ten were doomed to death,but thanks to a clemency which is creditableto the governor of Styria, only three wereexecuted. The rest were put in irons andtaken to Italy to fight the battles of Austriaunder Marshal Radetzky.

The three armies which contended for thepossession of Hungary were drawn up in battlearray. Of regular troops, Austria and Russiahad 175,000 in the field. Eossuth had aregular army of 150,000, trained to the fatiguesof the campaign and the dangers of battle,folly armed and equipped, and supported bylarge masses of militia. Never before hadthe Hungarians presented so imposing afront to their enemies. Never before wasit so clear that Hungary must prevail ifthe patriotism of the leaders equalled theheroic devotion of her people. If again vic-torious in the struggle, she was likely to besupported by the European nations, which feltfor her chivalry rather than for her cause.There was no reason why a man who six monthsbefore created an army under the hoofs andswords of a triumphant enemy, should not

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again conquer, now that the forces were equallybalanced.

The Hungarian armies Biirrounded thecountry in a large circular sweep. Dem-binski, faithful in spite of tbe Governor's in-gratitude, commanded a corps of 12,000 menin Northern Hungary. His lines were drawnfrom Eperiea to Neustadl, on the Waag;his right wing leant on the Carpathians j hiscentre occupied the cities of Leutshiui, Kiis-mark, and Bartfeld; and his left wing sweptthe valley of the Waag. This corps was tostem the tide of the Russian army, which,from Gallicia, threw the bulk of its forces uponthe Jablunka defiles and the other passes oftbe Tatra mountains. The territory whichDerabinski was expected to protect was tooextensive, and the numbers of the enemy wereby far too large for the numhcr of his troops.Tbe foreigners, Bern, Dembinski, and Guyon,were always placed in the post of danger, withtbe smallest possible number of troops, lesttheir achievements should eclipse those of thenative generals. They suffered from this jea-lousy, but they suffered less than the nation inwhose cause they were engaged. In the presentinstance, tbe most vulnerable part of the

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268 THE WAB IK HUNGABT.

country was least protected; for if Denxbinskicould not hold all the passes, and if theRussians forced their way through any of them,nothing could prevent their marchinto the plainsof the Theiss, the strongholds of Magyarism.

The central army of the Hungarians, com-manded by the Generals Gorgey, Klapka andGuyon, with the fortress of Komorn in itsrear, numbered 70,000 men, in three corps;it occupied the country from the river Waag tothe Borough of Vasarhely, and corresponded,by means of Guerilla bands on Lake Balaton,with the army of the South under Perczel.The Austrian army which these troops wereintended to repulse numbered at first 84,000men, but strong reinforcements of Austrianand Russian troops pouring in, increased itsnumbers to 100,000 men. Its head-quarterswere at Presburg.

Perczel's corps, the Southern army of theHungarians, consisted of 37,000 regular troops,and 35,000 irregulars, occupying the Bacska,the Banat, and part of Syrmia. Their maindepots were in the fortress of Peterwarasdin.Part of this corps was engaged in the siege ofthe fortresses of Arad and Temesvar. Opposedto them was the Austrian Southern army under

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the Ban JeUachich, whose troops were concen-trated at Karlovitz, and who with difficultymaintained his position in that narrow slip ofland which lies between the Danube and theDrave. In the course of the campaign, Perczel'scorps occupied the cities of Weiaskirchen, Or-sova, and Karansebes, and established com-munications with Bern and the army inTransylvania. That province, however, wasgradually abandoned, and the bulk of its forcesdrafted off' to the Banat, to assist Percxel.

To raise the last remaining strength of thecountry, and to secure victory at all risks, theGovernor Kossuth made another appeal to thenation by proclaiming a crusade against theRussians and the Austrian emperor. The clergywere to harangue the people. All able-bodiedmen were ordered to provide themselves withweapons of some sort. The tocsin was to besounded at the approach of the Russians; theywere to be harassed by frequent attacks of thepeasantry, and alarmed by an incessant ringingof bells. All provisions were to be destroyed,all villages to be burned on the line of marchof the Imperialist armies.

The Governor issued this manifesto in thelast daya of June. The offensive operations of

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the allies commenced on the 9th of that monthby an advance upon Izgard on the Waag. Thecombat lasted twelve hours, and led to no result.Three days later, an Austrian brigade, underGeneral Wyss, advanced to Czorna, where itwas attacked and routed by some detachmentsof Klapka's corps under Colonel Kmetty. TheAustrian commander was killed in the battle.Similar, though less decisive, engagements fol-lowed on the 17th of the month in the islandof Shutt, and near the villages of Kiraly Rewand Pered, until, on the 30th of June, thefirst great battle of the campaign was fought atPered. Gorgey, with 30,000 men and eighty-guns, had made preparations to attack the centreof the Austrian position. Klapka remonstratedagainst this plan, but Gorgey protested vehe-mently that the attack on the Austrian positionsalong the Waag was absolutely indispensable,and that ' that day's combat must be de-cisive/ In spite of this energetic assertion,it appears from Klapka's own statements thathe, as well as Gorgey, passed the better halfof the day of the battle at Aszod, about tenmiles from the scene of contest; that thecombat had been raging above five hours,and that the village of Pered, against which

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the operations were directed, had been lost and•"won when, at 2 p.m., Gorgey arrived on thtlbattle-field. It had taken him four hours to

.Tide over the ten miles of ground betweenlAszod and Pered 1 When he reached I'cred,

lie ordered the troops into bivouack, deposedthe officer in command for commencing the

'attack without sufficient authority, and on thefollowing day, when the main force of the Aua-triana returned to the charge, he exposed his

Ktroops in an unprotected position to the fireof the Austrian batteries. In the courseof that day he got surrounded by the alliedforces, and nothing but the courage and de-votion of the Honveds enabled him to makegood his retreat to Aszod, Two thousand

|£ve hundred of his troops remained on theSeld of battle. Klapka, who wrote rather inivour of Giirgey than against him, states, that' the Austrian attack had been conducted more

^rapidly and violeutly, 'this eventful day would' lave witnessed the rout and ruin of a largepart of the Hungarian army,' After thebattle of Pered, Gdrgey and his staff dawdled

time away in maudlin helplessness; twoarps remained (for ten days at least,' and

for no purpose, on the left bank of the Danube,

the

272 THE WAB IK HUNGARY.

while the defence of Raab, against which theImperialists concentrated the whole of theirforces, was left to General Poltenberg withonly 9000 men. At the eleventh hour, a corps,which was stationed at Komorn, received Gor-gey*s orders to reinforce the garrison of Raab.But the distance to that city was above fortymiles; the corps had been decimated in thelate battles, and Raab was lost to the Hun-garians. The Imperialists occupied it on the29th of June, in spite of Poltenberg*s heroic

defence.After these losses, Eossuth despatched three

commissioners to Komorn with orders forGorgey to retreat to the vast plains betweenthe Maros and the Theiss, where the bulk ofthe national forces were to be concentrated.Gorgey promised obedience; but after thedeparture of the commissioners he acceptedbattle from the Imperialists who pressedupon his outposts at Ats, in front of Ko-morn. His advanced positions were drivenin and he was compelled to seek shelter inthe entrenched camp of the fortress. Of thisfact he informed the Governor—.adding, thatthe enemy was too powerful, and that he could,not obey the orders transmitted to him. All he

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COMBAT AT ACZ. 273

[ could do was to hold out at Komorn. He invited[Mr. Kossuth and the Members of the Govern-

ment to come to that fortress.If the Governor had followed Gorgey's

Jvice, he would have placed himself' in thepower of a man who hated him more cor-dially than even his Austrian enemies couldhate him, who fought his battles to the ruin of

• his cause, and who waited but for a favourableopportunity to terminate the war. It appearsthat this message aroused Kossuth to a senseof his precarious position. He took what heconsidered extreme measures, by issuing adecree which deprived Gorgey of the chief com-mand. General Meszaros was appointed to

H take MB place, and ordered to join the armyat Koinorn.

» The old general left Pesth, but he halted onthe road and turned back, when at Almas thedistant and continuous thunder of artilleryapprised him of a general engagement betweenthe two armies. But Meszaroa was not theonly bearer of the Governor's decree, for a

ourier, who travelled on another road, readiedthe fortress on the evening of the 2nd July,

the termination of a battle, in which 1500Hungarians and aooo Imperialists were killed.

T *

27* THE WAK IN HtTHOABY.

The former were forced to seek the protection!of their entrenched camp, and GbVgey, whohappened to get mixed up in a charge of cavalry,was Weeding from a sabre-cut in the back of hishead. That wound played an important part inthe history of the Hungarian War. For manyweeks, whenever he appeared in public, hiahead was wrapped up in thick and inconve-niently conspicuous bandages. He never dis-carded the hat which had been cut throughby the sabre, but wore it on all occasions,thereby provoking a boundless enthusiasmamongst the troops.

• The first and last wound of which the eont-mander-in-chief of the Hungarian armiescould boast, preserved him his command. Thechief of his staff fomented a conspiracy amongthe commanders of the corps, and the Gover-nor's peremptory orders for Gb'rgey to resign,for the army to march to the Lower Danube,and for KJapka to see to the execution of theseorders, were as peremptorily disobeyed. Kkpkflconvoked a council of war, where it was re-Bolvcd that he should go to Pesth and insist onthe Governor cancelling his decrees. At tlicmoment of his departure he received anotherdecree, by which he was ordered to ' hasten

KXAPKA'S DUPLICITY, ' 275

the march of the army/ while he himself wasdesired to remain at Komorn, with 18,000 men.The hopeless demoralization of the militaryleaders is most glaringly shown by Klapka'singenuous confession, that this order 'spur-red him on to greater speed/ and that heimmediately proceeded to Pesth.* His media-tion sufficed to shake the Governor's resolution,and it was agreed that Gorgey should resignhis office as secretary at war, the functions ofwhich he had never performed, and that heshould remain with the army and retain itscommand, provided he acknowledged Meszarosas commander-in-chief and promised obedienceto his orders. On the return of the negotiatorto Komorn, Gorgey pledged his word that hewould obey the orders of the new commander-in-chief, but he knew how to distinguish be«tween his promise and its performance. Hewas again requested to march his troops toPesth. Instead of doing this, he assembled acouncil of war and proposed to lead the army toLake Balaton. This plan was so thoroughlyopposed to the real interests of Hungary, thatthe generals, and especially Klapka and Nagy

* Klapka'B War in Hungary, vol. i. p. 150,T %

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Sandor more than suspected his secret in-tentions.

It is characteristic of the frame of mindof these patriots, that in spite of this tardysuspicion they consented to support the traitor'smanoeuvre. Klapka confesses that after thebattle of Raab, Gb'rgey f dropped his mask/and that but a thin veil of secrecy was thrownover his intention of making a disgraceful sur-render. The word negotiation was at that timeopenly mentioned in G6rgey*s camp; his fearof victory, and his desire either to abandonthe Governor or to decoy him to his head-quarters were so apparent, and the dangerswhich these intrigues threatened for the countrywere so great, that Klapka and the other•chiefs would have been justified in arrogatingto themselves that power which the GovernorKossuth dared not exert. But George Klapka,whose 'Roman character' stooped to a dis-graceful conspiracy against General Dembinski,was far too conscientious to act openly againstthe man whom, on his own confession, he knewto be a traitor. Inexperienced, indolent, vain,and withal thoroughly selfish, he played a doublegame, and sought to be the favourite and con-fidant of the two rival powers: to profit by the

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KULPKA 8 DUPLICITY. 277

success or to save himself from the ruin ofeither. He had conspired against Dembinski

•because that officer exposed his ignorance andirresolution; he shrank from taking the Gover-

_nor)H part against Gb'rgey because lie atood inHawe of his stern comrade, and because thatBeomrade's scheme might possibly be attended

with success. Once, and once only, did Klapka

Iattempt to obey the Governor's orders, bysending General Nagy Sandor with a corpsto "Waitzen. This was done by stealth, andthe measure was revoked and the troops re-called when Gorgey intimated his displeasure

H a t this contempt of his authority. The largestand best appointed army was lost to the causeof Hungary at a time when its services weremost needed. Above 40,000 troops and 209pieces of artillery were, throughout one-half ofthe campaign, locked up in the entrenchedcamp of Komorn, while the smaller corps, inother parts of Hungary, were left to contend

Ht r i th the overwhelming numbers of the Russianarmy. Such an intrigue coidd have but one re-Bult. The arms of the Hungarians had been vic-torious in Transylvania and in the South, where

m, Guyon, and Perczel, men devoted to thef cause, commanded. The fortress of Arad had

273 THE WAE IN HffNGAHY.

teen compelled to surrender to the Govenior'atroops, and the corps wMch had conducted thesiege was a welcome and a most necessaryaddition to the forces in the South. But theweak point of the Hungarian defences, theGallician frontier, where Dembinski aud afterhim Visocki commanded a corps of 12,000men, was left exposed to the attack of theRussians, who, advancing by slow and cautiousmarches, forced the defiles of the Carpathians,occupied EpcrieB, Kashau, Miskolcz, overranthe plains of the Theiss and entered Debreczinon the 3rd of July. The combined Austrianand Russian armies at Rani), meanwhilej dis-covered that the forces at Komora required butto be watched, not opposed, and after the battleat Komorn, General Haynau could detach astrong corps in the direction of Peath. On theday the Russians entered Debreczin, the head-quarters of the Austrian commander-in-chiefwere at Babolna.

The inhabitants of the capital began atthis time to despair of the war. They wereassured that the army at Komorn remainedunconquered, and great care was taken to con-ceal from them the advance of the allies. Butthe evil news oozed ont. Their nights were dis-

279

tnrbed by the hollow rumbling of artillery andheavy waggons, which betrayed the clandestineremoval of the archives and stores. The greatestconfusion prevailed. The faces of the peoplewere anxious and care-worn; many took to flight.Palse rumours were flying about in all directions.

r Some of the populace assembled in tumultuousmeetings; others sought to liberate the Aus-trian prisoners of war. Cries of 'Treason!*filled the air. The government was compelledhy threats of extreme measures of severity toprevent the outbreak of an insurrection.

The Governor himself resolved to leavePesth. His private property was removed toSzolnok, and his own departure fixed for the2nd of July. He wished to leave the city

H pecretly, but the news of his departure becameH known, and when his carriage drew up at hisKdoor, the square was filled with people, anxious^Lto witness bis departure. Thus discovered, his^Bplans were changed. He issued from his palace

in simple dress with the cross of St. Stephenslung round his neck, preceded by three bishopsbearing crosses and banners, and surrounded byus adjutants, one of whom bore the standord•f Hungary. After him came his guards. Thepeople cheered the procession as it emerged

i;


from the gateway, and proceeded to the greatcross in the square. The Governor stoppedat the cross, and knelt down. The peopleknelt with him. After this act of devotion,Mr. Kossuth assured them that the God ofHungary, who protected them in the battles6f Hatvan and Kapolna, would not nowwithdraw his protection from his people.The Governor's aspect, his anxious, care-wornfeatures, and the impressive tones of his voice,filled the populace with a transport of grief andenthusiasm. Those who but a few days beforeprovoked his threats of courts-martial andwhole-avle fusillades, now rushed forward to embraceand kiss his knees and feet, and even the stoneson which his foot had trod. He bade thembe of good cheer and promised a speedy return.Crowds of people followed him, bewailing theirown lot and his, as the carriage drove slowlyaway. But few of the male population stayedbehind. They left, partly from patriotism, andpartly from fear of Austrian vengeance. Aweek afterwards the towns of Buda andFesth were occupied by the advanced guard ofthe Austrian army. General Haynau issueda proclamation, in which he told the inha-bitants of Festh that he would make them

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ponsible, ' one for all, and all for one,' andthat their livea and properties were forfeited in

B expiation of their crimes. Their city bore thetraces of a first chastisement; if they pro-voked him, he would turn it into a heap of ruinand as lies: a monument of their treason and oflis revenge. To make these menaces the moreimpressive, he reminded the citizens of Pesth ofhis achievements at Brescia. The Jews, who had

^•throughout supported the Hungarian govern-ment, were mulcted in a sum of 1,500,000 florins.

The Governor of Hungary, meanwhile, re-moved the seat of what was left to him of

r to Czcgled, and afterwards to Szegedin.He made strenuous but fruitless endeavours to

^^attract Gbrgey and his army in defence of theHcapitaL Messenger was sent after messenger,

order followed upon order, but without result.Mr. Kossuth's entreaties, and the orders ofGeneral Meszaros, were addressed to Klapka,bat while that officer lamented his inability to

Kineet the Governor's wishes, he consented to"support Gorgey's plan of dividing the army at

Komorn into two corps, of which the weaker,Hpnder Klapka, was destined to guard the for-

tress, while the flower of the army underGiirgey's commandj was to march away, for a


purpose which at that time was a secret tothose only who affected to admire G6rgey*sbrutality as independence, his frantic wayward-ness as chivalrous daring, and his secrecy as acertain indication of a deep-laid plan for therestoration'of the fortunes of the war. ButKlapka, who had followed his career through-out, who knew 'the intensity of the hatred7

he bore to Kossuth, and who was aware ofGorgey^s contempt for the national causeand army, could not doubt the object ofan expedition which nevertheless he volun-teered to support* On the n t h of Julyan attempt was made to break through theallied Imperialist armies on the right bank ofthe Danube. Klapka commanded, and Gorgey,who pleaded his wound, remained a spectatorof the battle, which ended with the retreatof the Hungarians. The loss on either sideamounted to about 1500 in killed and wounded.The Hungarian troops fought with the greatestheroism: their defeat was the result of thewant of discipline on the part of the leaderspf the various corps. Each division foughton its own account. There was no concert intheir attack, no combination in their move-ments, no co-operation in their retreat.

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BATTLES AT KOMOBtf. 2 8 3

Two days afterwards, on the 13th of July,General Klapka commanded another attackupon the Austrian forces on the right bank ofthe Danube; and Gorgey, who had crossed tothe left bank of that river, commenced his fate*ful expedition into the interior of Hungary bymarching upon the city of Waitzen. He hadgained his object. For more than fourteendays had he thwarted the movements of thenational armies, enabled the Russians to invadethe country from Gallicia, and to occupy almostall the important cities of the kingdom. Theirarmies occupied the country from Debreczin toWaitzen. They met and defeated him nearthat town. He turned aside, and marchedupon Miskolz and Tokaj, closely pursued,with his rear-guard engaged in frequent skir-mishes and negotiating all the while. Thisretreat, which has been magnified by the pensof credulous writers, was a brilliant piece of mili-tary acting from beginning to end. The Russianarmies never lost sight of him, but they tookcare not to press upon his heels. The quarterswhich he left in the morning, were in the eveningoccupied by the staff of Prince Paskievitsh.More than once the Russian commander mighthave crushed him between two corps. While on



other occasions, Gorgey might have turned onand defeated his pursuer. Russian officerspassed his outposts at nightfall, and re-turned before the break of day. The negotia-tions were eyidently not confined to his own fateand that of his army. His ambition grew withhis success, and the fate of Hungary was de-cided when he again appeared on the scene andoffered to co-operate with the national armies.

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285

ICHAPTER IX.

The Beginning of the End.—A Last Chance,—Battle ofTetnesrar.—Arad.—Konauth and Gbrgey.—Kossath'sAbdication.—Negotiations.—VilagoH.—Gorgey's lastTreason.—Bern and Guy on.—Koroorn.—Klapka's Capi-tulation—His Apology.—The 6th October, 1849.—The Bloody Assize.—The End of tie War.

THE struggle was in its last stage; still thedecision remained doubtful. The Go-

vernor's weakness and Gorgey's treachery hadcost the country much time, much blood, andseveral opportunities; the capitals and two-thirds of Hungary were in the hands of theallied armies; General Bern had been dis-lodged from Transylvania; the Austrians andRussians pressed on all sides upon Temesvar,the centre of the Hungarian forces. Themost formidable corps of which the Governorcould still boast was commanded by an officerwho was hostile to the caiiBe, and who, forweeks past, had negotiated with the enemy.But, on the other hand, the Hungarians re-mained established in the south; on the UpperDanube they were in possession of the impreg-

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S86 THE WAB IN HUNOAHY.

liable fortress of Komorn, from whence theythreatened the Austrian frontiers and inter-cepted all communications and transports onthe Danube. The counties in the rear of theallied armies were subjugated, but not pacified.The cruelties practised by the Austrian com-mander and his officers and soldiers had inten-sified the hatred which the Magyars bore totheir conquerors: they had not broken theirspirit. A reverse, a defeat in battle, anattempt to retreat, would have been fatal toHayuau and Paskievitsh. Nor was aucli ureverse altogether out of the question. TheMagyars were at bay, and for tliat very reasonthey were the more formidable. The alliedarmies had been decimated by that fiery anduncompromising bravery which, urged thehussars and Honveda to fight in spite of theindolence, and to conquer, notwithstanding thebad geueralship, and in some instances themalicious intentions, of their leaders. Bern'sretreat from Transylvania brought him in con-nexion with these troops. If he commandedthem, if their savage heroism were directed byhis talents and experience, the next battlemight be the turning point of the campaign.It must also be considered that the fights, the

le

. A LAST CHANCE. 2 8 7

hardships, and the peculiar climate of Hungaryhad told upon the invaders. Cholera and marsh-fever had thinned their ranks; each town theyleft was a hospital; each one of their bivouacswas a graveyard. The air was rank with disease.Resistance to the plague was a mere questionof time, for the strongest constitutions wereshaken, and what bad air, water, and food leftundone, was done by terror. The Russianofficers confessed that a few more weeks ofcampaigning would have been the ruin of theirarmy. The scales were still evenly balanced,Gorgey's treachery threatened to strike at theroot of the fortunes of Hungary, but his trea-son was confined to him and a few reprobatesof his stamp. The mass of the officers, even ofhis own corps, could not and would not haveacted without him; and treason, too, on agrand scale was working in fayour of Hungary.The Transylvanian Wallacks, the cruel enemiesof the Magyar race, and hitherto the stanchestallies of the Habsburgs, were ready to exerttheir savage fury for the benefit of the nationwhich they had so long combated. Their chief,Janku, sent his agents to Bern, asking for afree pardon and a general's rank in the Hun-garian army, #ad promising to attack the[

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288 THE WAB IK HUNGARY.

Russian troops which occupied his country*His proposals were accepted, and he wasordered to conduct the Wallackian bandsinto Hungary, and support the nationalarmies. The bearer of this order informedhim of the precarious condition of the Hun-garians. Gorgey, drawing the Russians afterhim, seemed to fly for refuge to the fortressof Arad. The Austrians held Temesvar; aHungarian corps under Vecsey besieged thatfortress, and its fall might be expected atany moment. Dembinski's army,. just de-feated at Szoreg, and the troops whichBem conducted from Transylvania to Lugos,were marching to support Vecsey and takethe fortress by assault. But Haynau, at thehead of the Austrian army, and supportedby a Russian division under Paniutine, washurrying up to drive off Vecsey and relievethe fortress. A great battle was about to befought under the walls of Arad; a battle atTemesvar was equally certain. Either of thesebattles would give some clue to the final decisionof the war. The wily Wallackian resolved to re-main inactive, and to side with the conquerors.

On the 8th of August, the Hungarian chiefsheld a council of war at Lugos. The question

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BATTLE OF TEMESVAB, 2 8 9

was whether they should fight at Temesvar orfall back upon Arad, effect a junction withGdrgey^s corps, and leaning on the fortress,offer battle to the Allies. General Bern op-posed the retreat to Arad: he would fight atTemesvar and at once. If defeated, hewould fall back upon Lugos and from thencemarch to Arad. While if the Hungariansgained the day, Gorgey advancing from Aradmight take the fugitives in the rear, and havingcrushed them the two corps of Bern and Gorgeycombined might wheel round against the Rus-sians. And since some of the generals urgedan immediate retreat to Arad, pleading thatthe troops had been neglected by the commis-sariat, and that they, from the want of properfood and clothing, were not in fighting con-dition : Bern declared that he would not troublethe troops much. The battle of Temesvar wasto be fought with artillery. He enforced hiswill, and on the evening of that day, the Hun-garians were drawn up in line at Besc-Kerek,near Temesvar. On the following day, the 9thof August, the battle was fought, and, as Bernhad directed, mainly with artillery. Bern, andunder him, Guyon and Dembinski, commanded.The old General took his stand in the centre of a

u

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290 THE WAK IN HUNGARY.

battery of 13-pounders, whence he superin-tended the cannonade. After several hours offiring along the whole battle-line, the Allies,driven firom position to position, were preparingfor a final retreat. All at once the fire of theHungarians slackened; a slight confusion wasperceptible along their line. Adjutants first,and after them general officers, galloped to therear and returned at a furious speed. Onebattery and then another ceased firing. Theircannon were not dismounted; they had stilla full complement of gunners, but they wantedammunition. Their powder casks and shotwaggons had early in the morning been sentaway on the road to Arad, and to this day it hasnever been ascertained who among the genieralofficers gave that treasonable and fatal order.Whoever the man was, he gained the battle ofTemesvar for the Austrians, whose artilleryadvanced and whose cavalry charged while theHungarians retreated in disorder upon Rekas.Bern, who sought to rally them, fell with hishorse, and the rumour spread that he wasseriously injured. At this fatal moment thearmy was saved by the presence of mind andthe matchless energy of General Guyon, who,concentrating 10,000 Hussars and some batteries

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RATTLE OP TEMESVAE. 291

horse-artillery, charged the advancing Aus-triana. As his cloud of light horse neared theAustrian ranks, it severed in two mighty wavesto the right and left, unmasking the artillery

h poured a hailstorm of grape upon theirsquares, which, closely packed, stood preparedto receive cavalry. The artillery breached andthe Hussars spurred in and dispersed theBquares. Another attack, one as rapid andeffective, broke the centre of the Russians.The fortunes of the day might yet have

retrieved, had Guyon's artillery been ableto continue the engagement. The want ofammunition deprived his bold and artisticmanoeuvres of that complete success they

Hkierited. But the Hungarians were saved, andthough in the night and from an unaccountablepanic its retreat became disorderly, the fugitiveswere left unmolested by the Allies, who wereglad to reorganize their corps on the ground

Lwhich had twice been lost and won.*

• A letter from General Gnyon, kindly communicatedby Mr. Arthur Kinglake, contains the liillrat apology—if apology were needed—far the bold mnnajavras whichchecked the advance of the Allies:

" I hnvo very often been severely criticised for mytactics, in German papers, because military men we very

V Z


Guyon, ivho during the night Bought torally the Hungarian forces, informed Kossuthof the result of the battle of Tcmesvar, in terrasof fatal brevity. * The army has been defeated,and U now making a disorderly retreat. Bernis hurt, and unfit for service.'

tenacious, and would rather see their army beaten willtheir old tactics, ttuui learn anything from a foreign anay.Now 1 borrow from all tactics. I ulwnys chargu my in-fantry in line and never in column, if under artillery firf.And I make them lie down until the moment I wiintthem, and never give fire until at 150 metres distance. Inever let cavalry aharge without being supported by theirartillery and a battalion or two of infantry, behind whichthey can form if once broken, protected by the reserves ofeach regiment. And I alwKje mask my artillery wilhcavalry when I really intend attacking1, bat make a showof it when I intend to remain on the defensive. I never.if I can help it, use one arm alone, hut always all thru)together. I hare often marched infantry through enemy 1cavalry; the battalions of course en echelon, bat wouldnot risk it if they had artillery with them. In war wecan never depart from certain rules without being punished;jet wo must sometimes hazard,"

Those theories, deduced from the experience of nt leuttwenty battlu-fielde, diaposo satisfactorily of tho chargewhich has i'rnquuntly and pTsiatently been made ttgainitGeneral Gnyon. I refer to the chargu that he WAK U mereaabrsitr and cavalry officer—an accusation wliiuh, mart-over, in invalidated by the efficient defences of Ears, whichwere oonstructed by him, aud from which others tmwagudto derive credit and advantage.

293

The Governor Kossuth had meanwhile foughta different fight at Arad, and he too had beendefeated. He foresaw the possibility of ajunction between the two main armies of theHungarians; between the troopB which Bern,Dembinski, and Guyon led against the Austrianaat Temeavar and those which (Jiirgey had justbrought to Arad, and which were encamped inthe town and its suburbs. Since the two armieswere to act together, they would want a com-mander-in-chief. The Governor resolved togive that post to General Bern, but hiscabinet] and Gorgey, who had been sum-moned to their councils, protested against

»J i i a choice. While they declared that theGovernor was not justified in determining theimportant question of the chief command ac-cording to hiB own likings or prejudices, theyexpressed the strongest doubts of his judg-ment, candour, and honesty. Gorgey houndedthem on by dwelling on Bern's late defeats,

k and when the Governor mentioned the Tran-sylvauian army, he compelled him to con-fess that after the battle of Shasburg theexistence of that army was, to say the least,doubtful. He then withdrew, leaving his friendsto vindicate his cause. They justified his ex-

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pectations by compelling the Governor to cancelBern's appointment to the chief command, andagain to entrust the supreme control of militaryaffairs to Gorgey. From what has transpiredconcerning their discussion, it does not appearthat the Governor stated his reasons for hischoice. He made no mention either ofBern's devotion to the cause or of Gorge/sdoubtful sincerity. Indeed, very little atten-tion was paid to the merits of the case.The Governor took his stand on his privi-lege, and defeated on that point, he yieldedto the will of the majority. His oppo-nents, who met him on the same ground,were equally discreet. They knew that Bernwould hold out to the last. If not actuallyprivy to Gorgey's schemes, they were at leastuncertain as to his intentions.

On the evening of that day, the ioth ofAugust, the Governor received brave Guyon'smessage from the field of Temesvar, which evi-dently misled him as to the nature and theconsequences of the defeat. He .sent for Gor-gey, who left his quarters in the town, andentered the citadel accompanied by one orderlyofficer only. After a long conversation, he re-turned to his troops. What happened between

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KOSSUTH AND GOBGEX. 295

the Governor and his general has always re-mained a mystery. Gorgey, in his Vindication,asserts that Kossuth made no mention ofGuyon's despatch; that he professed ignoranceof the result of the battle; that he evenneglected to acquaint him with the decisionof the council, and that he merely lamentedthe series of misunderstandings which hadso long prevented their co-operation for thebenefit of the country. He then told Gor-gey that if the Austrians were beaten atTemesvar, the corps at Arad ought to in-tercept their flight. (But/ added he, ' whatwould you do, General, if our troops had beendefeated?J 'Iwould surrender/ replied Gor-gey. ' And I would shoot myself/ returnedKossuth."* With this understanding theyseparated.

Gorgey asserts on the strength of thisconversation, that Mr. Kossuth knew andsanctioned his intention to surrender. Hehad scarcely reached his quarters when theGovernor sent him Guyon's despatch, withoutone word of admonition or comment. ' Besides/adds Gorgey, 'when I told Kossuth of my in*

• Gorgey's Vindication.

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tention to surrender, my life was in his hand.I was in his quarters in the citadel, whichwas commanded by General Damjanich, whosince our quarrel at Komorn had been myenemy. The garrison consisted of troops whichhardly knew me by name; I was alone and un-protected. Nevertheless, he allowed me toleave the fortress, and return to my quarters inArad.'

If these statements be true, they explainthe part which Mr. Kossuth played on thelast day of his government. But the manwho thus accused him had forfeited all claimsto confidence. A traitor to his country,there was no reason why he should shrinkfrom falsifying history. On the followingday the Governor surrendered his power toGorgey. That man's unsupported allegationswould fail to convince an impartial inquirer.But they are supported by the conflicting state-ments of Mr. Kossuth's colleagues and fol-lowers, some of whom pretend that the Governorwas compelled by violent threats on the part ofthe military chiefs to surrender his power toGorgey; while some of the members of thecabinet, Szemere, for instance, and KasimirBatthyanyi, complained that they were not

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KOSSUTH AND GOBGEY. 2 9 7

consulted, and that the transaction which leftGorgey at the head of the army was executedwith great secrecy and despatch. The ac-counts of Mr. Kossuth's friends are unsatis-factory, and intended to conceal a fact, ratherthan to explain it. The Governor of Hun-gary was at Arad, under the protection ofthe most devoted and energetic of his gene-rals, Damjanich, the Wallachian. How, then,and at what time, could a few officers, withGorgey at their head, compel him to abdicate?And where were the ministers who afterwardsprotested against his abdication, and who com-plained that they had not been consulted?The pretence that his abdication was ex-torted was an afterthought; it was first men-tioned when Gorgey's surrender provoked theexecration and the contempt of all Europeannations. It was then Mr. Kossuth recoiledfrom his own act. On the n t h of August,when he wrote his manifesto of abdication, hewas under the influence of fear, but it wasthe fear of capture by the Austrians. His re-sponsibility oppressed him; his office chainedhim to the spot, while his eager eyes wereturned towards the Turkish frontier. Hespurned his responsibility and his office. He

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declared that the 'late defeats had left himno hope of a successful continuance of the de-fence against the allied forces of Austria andRussia. He was convinced that his remainingin office would be injurious to the nation; theleaders of the army inust henceforward protectthe nation and its fortunes/ An impartialinquirer will naturally ask: how, since de-fence was impossible, were the leaders of thearmy to protect the nation, except by negotia-tions and by surrender ? Three days later, onthe 14th of August, writing from Tergova toBern, who asked him to resume office, Mr.Kossuth refused; and in this letter he statesthe reasons which induced him to resign.After protesting that he ' cared not for hisown safety/ and that it was not a coward'syearning for life which induced him to hastenaway, he declared that he was about to leaveHungary because he was convinced that hispresence had become obnoxious to the country.He would consent to resume the conduct ofaffairs, if Bern could manage to gain some bat-tles, and j^Gorgey's army were to call him back.But unless this were done, he could not think ofoffice. He added, ' since I see no probability ofaccomplishing the end, I will not lend my hand

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KOSSUTH'S ABDICATION. 299

to make war for its own sake/ The sameletter to Bern proves the truth of Gorgey^sassertion, that Mr. Kossuth knew of his in-tention to surrender. Speaking of the armyat Lugos he says, e if he (Gorgey) surrenders,that army cannot hold out for four-and-twentyhours.' This, then, disposes of the plea ofconstraint, which has been ostentatiously putforward by those who would narrow the causeof a nation by centering it in one man. Evento superficial inquirers, it has always appearedstrange that Gorgey, if he had the power toextort Mr. Kossuth's abdication, should notalso have been able to arrest and hand himover to the Austrians. That the Imperialgovernment longed to wreak their vengeanceon Mr. Kossuth was shown by their de-sire for his extradition from Turkey. Norcan his escape be ascribed to G6rgey*s gene-rosity, for that person complains of the greathaste and secrecy of his flight. All thesecircumstances show that the Governor of Hun-gary despaired of the success of his countryand that he feared for his own life. He re-signed his office and gave his power to Gorgey,not because he believed that officer could orwould redeem the fortunes of the war, but

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800 THE WAB IN HUNGARY,

because he seemed the fittest person to succeedin a negotiation. A general surrender appearedto him probable, and even necessary, for therewas no f hope of defence against the allied forcesof Russia and Austria.' With this declaration,the ex-Governor of Hungary fled to Turkey.

Mr. Kossuth afterwards protested that ofright he was still Governor of Hungary, andthat the dignity of that office remained vestedin him until the nation should, by its ownfree will, depose him. Nothing can be moreabsurd than such a pretence. He deposedhimself. He was the elected of the nation, buthe resigned his office in the hour of danger.In his letter to Bern, he protests that he isnothing but ' a simple citizen, that it is against.his conscience to resign one day, and claimthe power of government on the other/ Andhe advises Bern to call a committee of thenational representatives, 'for it is their su-preme power alone which can lawfully disposeof the government/ In his act of abdication,he declared that he conferred the supremepower on Gorgey, 'until the nation, makinguse of its right, shall have disposed of thatpower according to its will/

General Gorgey, the new Governor of Hun-

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NEGOTIATIONS. 301

gary, assumed the executive immediately afterMr. Kossuth's flight, by disbanding the NationalGuards and volunteer corps. He next pro-ceeded with his negotiations openly and in thelight of day. The vanguard of the Russianarmy, which had followed him after the battleof Waitzen, watching his movements ratherthan hastening in his pursuit, was commandedby General Rudiger. Frequent messages passedbetween the two chiefs on the first and seconddays of Gorgey^s dictatorship. On the thirdday, the 13th of August, the Hungarian com-mander withdrew his troops from Arad, pro-bably because he had reason to fear that GeneralDamjanich, who commanded in the citadel,would oppose his proceedings, and that his owntroops would support Damjanich. He con-ducted them to Vilagos, a village on theMenesh hills, ten miles from Arad. The Rus-sians followed, and halted at some distancefrom the Hungarian camp in and aroundVilagos. Thirty thousand men, the flower ofthe National armies, were in Gorgey^s camp,in silent expectation, doubtful to the lastwhether the day was to conclude with a'battleor a treaty. Gorgey convoked a council ofwar—a mere mockery, for the fate of the

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302 THE WAB IK HUNGAKY.

army was decided, and the setting sunwas to see it disarmed and led away intocaptivity. Nevertheless, he pretended to con-sult his companions, in arms. They met, as theHuns of old did, on horseback, and in thecentre of their troops. He told them thatall was lost; that he had no hopes of extri-cating his corps from among the enemy whosurrounded them on all sides, and that he wasresolved to surrender to the Russians. < Per-haps/ added he, ' some one of you may be ableto advise another expedient. If such a manthere be, let him come forward ! I will gladlyobey him/

At first the officers stood moody and silentG6rgey*s friends, who were" prepared for theoccasion, said the army must follow theexample of its chief. No voice was raisedagainst him from those high in command, butthe lower officers vented their rage and despairin groans and imprecations. At length an oldcolonel of the Hussars came forward. * I donot want to surrender—I want to give battle/said he; ' my comrades, too, are of that opinion.I will take the command, if no better man canbe found/ Gorgey rode up to the old man,and remarked in an undertone, that the scene

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VILAGOS. 303

they were enacting was not a farce, but atragedy. ' I am still commander-in-chief/added he, 'and there are bullets enough topunish every mutineer/ The officer looked athim with contempt, drew his sword, brokeit, and flung the fragments at the General'sfeet; next turning his horse, he rode away.Hundreds, and as some say, thousands, ofthe privates and officers followed his exam-ple, and deserted from the field of shameat Vilagos. Waitings and lamentations, andcurses loud and deep, were heard as Gorgey,dissolving his sham council, rode to therear, and wiled away the time in conversationwith some of the female camp followers. TheRussians advanced. Surrounded by his staff,he rode out to meet them, and returning atthe side of Riidiger, he made his battalionsinarch past, and lay down their arms. Theywere divided into small parties, and escortedby Cossacks to Sarkad. Prince Paskievitsh,the Russian commander-in-chief, informed hismaster of the termination of the campaign*c Hungary/ said he, ' lies at the feet of yourmajesty/

This was the consummation of Gorgey*streason, and as some politicians will have it, it

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was a necessary and beneficial consummation.It has been asserted, that at Vilagos he had nochoice but to surrender. But it may justly beasked: what induced #him to go to Vilagos ?What hopes, what temptations, what promiseswere held out? What schemes led him toconspire against his own army ? In his Vindi-cation, Gorgey would assert that his firstnegotiations with the Russians took placeimmediately after Kossuth's resignation, andthat he surrendered because he had no hopesof success. From the first he had no wish tosucceed. He would not conquer for Kos-suth; he despaired of conquering for himself.Throughout the earlier period of the war heshunned a decisive success more than a de-feat ; his expedition to the Carpathians was arunning match between him and an Austriancorps of inferior strength; all his battles werefought by Guyon, without his knowledge,and sometimes against his will. His pro-ceedings under Dembinski displayed a medleyof incapacity, ill-will, poltroonery, and treason.He undertook and protracted the siege of Buda,for the purpose of giving the Austrians timeto rally their forces. He disobeyed orders, andremained with his army at Komorn c for the

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GORGET'S LAST TREASON. 305

special purpose of not being compelled to co-operate with Kossuth and the Poles, and forthe purpose of treating with the Imperialistgenerals as soon as his retreat was cut off bythe occupation of Pesth and the counties ofthe Theiss.'* He shrunk from surrenderingat Komorn, because Klapka was irresolute, andNagy Sandor hostile to his plans. His con-duct was watched by able and loyal men, and hiswilful neglects in the battle of Acs exposed himto the animadversions of the officers who com-manded the fortress. Colonel Thaly, the directorof fortifications, accused him of treason and in-sisted on his dismissal.! After much hesitationand some manoeuvring he left the fortress forWaitzen, Miskolz, and the Theiss. From thatday he negotiated, not about the conditions,but about the mode and manner of his sur-render. Mr. Kossuth's abdication and flightoffered an opportunity by which he profited.He surrendered to a Russian army, because

* Verbatim from Baron Budberg's report, as given inPrince Wittgenstein's despatch of the 21st July, 1849.This Report, written by a Russian agent, ten weeksbefore the surrender of Vilagos, gives a clue to the com-mencement of Gorgey's negotiations.

f Thaly's Fortress of Komorn. London: 1852.

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hiB officers were deluded by the pretence thattheir services would be engaged and their livesprotected by the Czar. He propagated thisbelief with, considerable art: never openlyaffirming, but never once denying it. And itappears that almost all the higher officers, themen who made ao great a display of their loreof country and of liberty, were content to leaveHungary and their heroic countrymen to theworst fate that can befall a nation, while theyaspired to act as mercenaries in the Bcrvice ofthe most despotic power in Europe.

It has been asked what motive had Gbrgeyfor his treason? Wliat were the advantageshe derived from it ¥. And since he sold hiscomrades and his country, where was the price ?It « difficult to account for the actions of aman who hates others and despises himself.Extraordinary profligacy is frequently alliedto extraordinary folly. The length of hisnegotiations proves that he made some con-ditions, and preferred some claims. He foundit necessary to defeat the cause of Hungary,and discourage his troops by a series of delaysand wilful mistakes. Every partial attempt attreason gave the enemy power over liim. Iliaservitude commenced with his guilt, until,

LAST TEEASOK. 307

unable to retrace his steps, he was compelledto surrender at discretion—-to accept promisesin the stead of pledges, and money in the placeof rank and preferment. That he did accept

of money is proved by his Vindication.The amount he quotes is small, but even ifcorrect, it ought to be considered that the

oney thus paid was a reward and not atribe.

Immediately after his surrender, Gorgeyaddressed letters to General Vecsey, who com-manded the corps which, previous to the battle

» o f Temesvar, invested that fortress; and tothe commanders of Komorn, Peter waraadin,and Arad, summoning them to surrender. Inbis letter to General Klapka, who held Komorn,be stated that Damjanich at Arad had pro-mised to follow hia example. This was a de-liberate falsehood. If he had oeen sure of thefortress he would have surrendered it with hisarmy, instead of marching to Vilagos. GeneralDamjanich aud the garrison of Arad were be-trayed by the General, Severe Botourline, whopromised that their lives, properties, and for-tunes should be under the Czar's protection.They believed the word of a Russian officer;but when, in execution of the capitulation, the

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^Russians had entered the fortress, and whenGeneral Damjanich and his troops weremarching out, they were surrounded, cap-tured, disarmed, and handed over to theAustrians. The commander of Peterwarasdinwas induced, by similar representations, to sur-render, or, as the phrase went, c to place him-self under the protection of Russia/ GeneralKlapka, too, would have given up Komorn,had not a young Russian officer warned himof the fate which awaited his comrades.Vecsey yielded to Gorgey's influence and ex-ample. Turning a deaf ear to Bern's entreaties,who besought him to lead his army into Tran-sylvania, from whence, if hard pressed, he mightescape into Turkey, Vecjsey and his officersdeclared they would surrender as Gorgey haddone, and obtain the privileges which he hadobtained for his followers.

Of the chief leaders, none remained faithfulto the cause and the country but Bern thePole, and Guyon the Englishman. Dembinski,Meszaros, Perczel, and Visocki anticipatingKossuth's resignation, left the country afterthe defeat at Temesvar. Bern, assisted byGuyon, collected the stragglers and desertersfrom the army which surrendered at Vilagos,

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BEM AND GUYON. 300

and marched into Transylvania to join theGenerals Stein and Kmetty, who commandedthe National forces in that province. Butthere, too, the troops dispersed when they heardof KossutVs abdication and Gorgey^s sur-render. About 5000 men remained faithful,and at the head of this small band, Bern,with Guyon, Kmetty, Stein, and Pieringer—the historian of his Transylvanian campaign—advanced against Deva and Piski, wherethe General Liiders, with 25,000 men, wasprepared to arrest his progress. Negotiatorswere sent to him, but he treated their over-tures with contempt, and succeeded, by hisresolute behaviour, and under the cover ofnight, to awe the Russians into an armistice.He knew that the morning must reveal tothe enemy his weakness and their strength.Accompanied by his officers, he fled over themountains, and sought an asylum in Turkey,while the troops dispersed in all directions.

This breach of truce, more pardonable thanthe one of which Jellachich was guilty, signa-lized the last field operations of the war inHungary. The length and breadth of thecountry, all its strong places, all its townsand villages, were occupied by the Allies,

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310 TBE WAB IN BUHGABT.

There was but one post in which the cham-pions of the late insurrection still held out,and that post waa Komorn—the inipregna-hle fortress which, since Giirgey's march toWaitzen aud the Theiss, had been invested bya small corps of AiiBtrianB under GeneralCsorich, Komoru commands the rivers of theDanube and Waag; the cities of Dotis, Gran,Neuhiiusel, Raab, and Wieaelburg are withinaday^smarch, and exposed to molestation froman energetic commander of that importantplace. The communication by water betweenVienna and Pesth was interrupted, and thesubjection of Hungary was not complete solong as Komorn remained in the hands of thenational troops. The siege of the fortress re-quired an army of at least 40,000 men; andeven then it might be prolonged indefinitely.The utter exhaustion of the Austrian finances,the euormoiia expense which the Russian auxi-liaries entailed upon the empire—the rebel-lious spirit which, in spite of all reverses, stillanimated the lower classes of the Hungarians—the growing discontent of the Croats andServians: all these considerations made thespeedy occupation of Komoru a matter ofimperative necessity. But the acliicvement

KOMORN. 311

was difficult, if not impracticable. The placewas garrisoned by 18,000 men, with a largecomplement of ordnance, cavalry, and field-artillery. Every advantage which the gar-rison gained could be followed up to its lastconsequences. The stores of gunpowder, pro-jectiles, and provisions were sufficient for a siegeof two years. General Klapka, though indo-lent and irresolute, had within the last weeksbeen compelled, by reports from without, andby public opinion within, to make a sallyupon Csorich's position at Nagy Igmand,where his officers defeated and almost capturedthe blockading corps, and from whence theyreturned with large stores of cattle, grain,wine, and ammunition.* The commanderhad for fifteen days reflected on the dangersof an undertaking which, when attempted,led to such surprising results; but its successshowed plainly what the influence of the Hun-garian army at Komorn might have been, hadthat army been commanded by an energetic,enterprising, and patriotic leader. General

* 2800 oxen, 1000 swine, 13 shiploads of grain, winefrom Almas, and the whole of the Austrian reserve am-munition.— Thaly's Komorn.

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312 THE WAfc IN HUNGARY.

Klapka, whom Dembinski describes as irre-solute, conceited, and fond of idle boasts,*paralysed the forces which were entrustedto him while the struggle lasted; and afterthe surrender at Vilagos, his conduct showedthat all he wanted to imitate Gorgey*s ex-ample, was an inducement and a fair excuse.It was his duty to understand the advantagesof his position, and to despise the dangerswhich might result from some remote and un-certain contingency. But his conduct was asdiscreditable to his character as a soldier, as tohis pretensions as a diplomatist.

On the first summons to surrender, he agreedto an armistice, because (as he asserted) itenabled him to recal his detached columnsfrom Vesprim and Wei&senburg. But as thereport of Mr. Kossuth's flight reached him onthe i ith of August, at Raab, which he occupiedafter the successful sally upon the besiegers;—as, immediately on receiving the news, heconcentrated all his troops in Komorn, wherethey arrived on the 14th; and as the Austrianblockading corps did not rally from its defeatbefore the 18th of the month: there was ample

• Dembinski's Dispatches, passim.

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KLAPKA AT KOMORN. 3 1 3

time to recal those detachments, providedthey were not drawn in with the other troops.Colonel Thaly, who wrote a detailed account ofthe siege and capitulation of Komorn, knowsnothing whatever of these detached columns.That officer, and a citizen named Katona,were provided with Austrian passports, andsent to Arad and the South, to convincethemselves of the capture and dispersion of theHungarian armies. In spite of the threats andthe promises of personal favour which wereheaped upon them by General Haynau, theyfulfilled their mission honourably and faith-fully, and advised, on their return, that thefortress should not be surrendered withoutan adequate compensation on the part of theImperialists. In a council of officers, whichwas convened on this occasion, it was resolvedto surrender the fortress upon honourableconditions. Even this resolution was passedby a majority of only two votes, for Thaly,Ujhazy, and many of the officers of thecorps who had also opposed the armistice,were of opinion that to talk of surrenderbefore a breach had been made was acowardly proceeding. Still, the conditions itwas resolved to demand were advantageous to

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Hungary and honourable to the garrison.They included an amnesty for the nation; afree pardon to the Hungarian army, captivesand all; liberation of the prisoners; free choiceof abode for all implicated in the insurrection;departure of the garrison with military honours;and compensation to the contractors who hadmade bargains with the authorities of the for-tress. Ujhazy proposed, as an additional clause,that the treaty of surrender should have theguarantee of one of the great European powers.The measure was reasonable, and by no meansunprecedented. The articles of peace whichthe Hungarian Insurgents forced upon theirAustrian oppressors at Zatmar (An. 1711), hadthe guarantee of England, Holland, Sweden,Poland, and Venice. The manner in whichthe statesmen of Austria have frequently brokenthe most solemn engagements, made this pre-caution a matter of absolute necessity. Butthe clause was opposed by Klapka and hismajority, because they feared that the Austriangovernment would not assent to a capitulationwhen they were bound to respect its terms.

Safety of life and limb, and a speedy termi-nation of their doubts and fears, were thesole objects of these men. When the terms

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CAPITULATION. 315

they proposed were not accepted by theAustrian commander, and when, at the ex-piration of the armistice, some preparationswere made for the siege, General Klapkaconvoked another council of war, to which allthe staff officers and two officers from eachbattalion were admitted, and by their helphe succeeded in annulling the resolutions ofthe first council. It was agreed to divide thecapitulation into two parts : to insist on thesafety of the garrison, and, by an humblepetition, to recommend the captives and thecountry to the grace of the Austrian Emperor.Klapka's intentions were again opposed byUjhazy and Thaly, who declared that it wasmean, selfish, and undutiful to make the fate ofthe garrison the first consideration, and tosacrifice the country and the captives.* Inreply to this opinion, expressed in open council,Colonel Thaly was arrested by Klapka's orders,and kept in close confinement up to the day ofthe surrender. The new draught of the capitu-lation, which was submitted to General Haynau,exacted no guarantees, and imposed no vexatiousconditions. The garrison of the strongest for-

* See Thaly's Komorn, p. 200.

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tress in Europe resigned its trust, before a stoneof its walls had been touched by the enemy'sartillery, for the privilege of being allowed todepart without martial honours, for a month'spay to the officers and soldiers, and for the sum of50,000^. to liquidate the debts of the garrison.So loose was the wording of the convention,that almost every portion of it was infringedby the Austrians. A safe conduct to theirHomes was stipulated for the officers of thegarrison of Komorn, but nothing was said ofwhat might be done when they were there.Many were arrested; others were compelled toenlist in the Austrian army, and some weretried by courts-martial and shot or hanged.This disgraceful convention was ratified on the2nd day of October.

In his Memoirs, General Klapka has at*tempted to demonstrate that he was wheedledinto surrendering the fortress. He declaresthat the Austrian negotiators fawned and flat-tered; that the penal prosecutions in otherparts of the country were carried on with theutmost caution; and that Count Griinne, theEmperor's adjutant, was sent in hot haste torespite all prisoners under sentence of death.But four weeks previous to the surrender which

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KLAPKA'S APOLOGY. 317

left his comrades at the mercy of Austria,the same general enclosed the draught ofthe first honourable capitulation in a letterto the Imperialist commander, in which hesaid that what his commissioners, Thaly andKatona, had seen in the conquered districts,was in flagrant contradiction to the promises ofpeace, reconciliation, and indemnity, which hadbeen held out by the negotiators. € Insteadof peace and tranquillity for our wretchedcountry/ added General Klapka, € we find thatpreparations are making for executions. In-stead of acts of reconciliation, we learn thatcourts-martial are assembling, that sentencesare publishing, and that our wretched brethrenare condemned and executed. You must seethat this news cannot induce us to surrenderthe fortress/ It is impossible to explain thetrain of reasoning by which the man who wrotethese words could be brought to perpetratethe aot he deprecates in such emphatic Ian*guage.

The fall of Komorn gave the signal for aseries of executions which have been justlynamed the Bloody Assize of Hungary. TheHabsburg princes were always revengeful, andunsparing in their revenge, Theirs are the

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odia in longum jacentes qua conderent auctaquepromerent of the worst days of ancient Rome.The officers who surrendered at Vilagos, thoseof Vecsey's army, and the commanders ofArad and Peterwarasdin, believed that theCzar would protect them from Austrian re-venge. The conduct of the Russians confirmedthis opinion. They treated the Hungarianofficers as guests rather than as captives; theyfeasted, drank, and gambled with them. Theyridiculed the Emperor of Austria, and in-sulted his officers. Many of the prisonersmight have escaped; they preferred remain-ing in the camp, for they believed that theCzax would solicit their services against theCircassians. When the truth was told them;when, at the last moment, they were informedthat the Russian General had resolved to givethem up to the Austrians, these deluded menheard their doom with heroic resignation.One of them, Colonel Pulszky, invited his friendsto supper; they passed the night drinking andcarousing. Amidst the uproar, their host with-drew to another room of the house. His absenceexcited attention. They sought him, and foundhim dead from poison. But the other chiefsdespaired from the first, or hoped to the last.

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THE 6TH OCTOBER, 1849. 819

They were conducted to Arad, and placed inclose confinement. Even then they expectedthat the surrender of Komorn would restorethem to liberty; it sealed their doom. Thenews of Klapka's capitulation was sent toArad, with orders for the immediate executionof the prisoners.

On the 6th of October, the anniversary of theday on which Count Latour was assassinated atVienna, the Generals Kiss, Aulich, Damjanich,Nagy Sandor, Torok, Lahner, Count Vecsey,Poltenberg, Count Leiningen, and Shweidler,were executed at Arad by the hands of thecommon hangman, amidst a vast concourseof officers and soldiers, who brutally insultedthe victims. With a refinement of cruelty,but one hangman had been provided for theeleven men, and the revolting scene was pro-tracted above four hours, from six o'clock tillpast ten in the morning. They were all takento the place of execution at once, and compelledto witness the death struggles of their com-rades. General Damjanich, who was sufferingfrom a fracture of his ankle, and who was takento the foot of the gibbet in a cart, suffered last.He bore all, the rough handling of the soldiery,and the ill-treatment to which his suffering

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limb was subjected, without complaint or re-monstrance. Once only he made a remark :—' It is strange/ said he, ' that I should be thelast here; I was always first in battle/

The anniversary of Count Latour's death wasdisgraced by another judicial murder, one evenless excusable than the indiscriminate slaughterof the Hungarian chiefs at Arad. Count LouisBatthyanyi, who had been a captive sinceJanuary, 1849, when Prince Windishgratzoccupied Pesth, was accused of high treason,and tried by a tribunal of subalterns, ser-geants, and privates, convened to decide oncharges involving for the most part thesubtlest questions of constitutional law. Hewas accused of c having by a treasonable issueof Hungarian bank-notes created the mostefficient lever of the rebellion; of havinglevied recruits and created an army for thepurposes of civil war; of having sought toembarrass the Austrian Government by send-ing ambassadors to certain foreign powers; ofhaving fomented (and that too by e inactivity*)the disunion between Hungary and Croatia; andof having taken part in the Vienna revolu-tion of the 6th October, 1848/ These and avariety of other charges too numerous for

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THE 6TH OCTOBER, 1849. 321

quotation, were mentioned in a semi-officialjustification of its conduct, which the AustrianGovernment published. The proceedings of thecourt-martial itself were never submitted to thepublic judgment, and nothing is known of thatmysterious trial but its result. The sentencewas one of death by the hands of the com-mon hangman, not because Count Batthyanyiwas guilty of any crime, but because he washated by the Emperor's mother, and becausesome of the conquerors were in his. debt. Hesought to avoid the disgrace of a public exe-cution by an attempt at suicide, with a daggerwhich he had concealed for the purpose. Butsurrounded by guards, and compelled to hidehis movements and his pain, he succeeded onlyin cutting a deep wound in his neck, and, bythe advice of some physicians, who were after-wards punished for their humanity, he was shotinstead of being hanged.

Execution followed execution. Csanyi, amember of Mr. Kossuth's government, andJessenak, a member of the senate, were hangedat Pesth; the same fate befel many othereminent men, such as Scacvay, Giron, Aban-court, and Prince Ivownicki. Czernus, aninoffensive old man, and a partisan of Aus-

y



tria, was arrested, tried, sentenced, and exe-cuted by mistake, without one moment beingallowed to him for remonstrance and expla-nation. Two generals, Desewfy and Lazar, whohad been sentenced to die on the gibbet, werepardoned—and shot. About forty general offi-cers and colonels were condemned to imprison-ment in fortresses, varying from ten to twentyyears. The longer term of years predominated.Exorbitant fines were imposed upon the cities,the country districts, and the wealthier amongthe landowners. Count G. Karolyi, for in-stance, was mulcted in 15,000/. for havingshown, an indecent joy when Mr. Kossuthentered Pesth. Courts-martial and extra-ordinary commissions of € purification' weresitting in every town and in every village.Men, women, and children were summonedbefore these tribunals, even if no chargehad been brought against them, and desiredto ' account' for their actions during the insur-rection. If their account seemed unsatisfactory,they were committed to prison and handed overto the courts-martial. Sentences of corporalpunishment were the mildest form in which thevictors wreaked their revenge upon the unfor-tunate conquered. Next came condemnations

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THE BLOODY ASSIZE. 3 2 3

to military service. Above 70,000 Hungariansoldiers were, in the winter of 1849, forciblyenlisted in the Austrian army. Those whoescaped into foreign countries had their pro-perty confiscated, and their names were paintedon the gallows; but the number of those whowere sentenced and brought to death by thecourts-martial it is impossible to determine.Some of the sentences were not published at all,or published only in obscure provincial papers.Some suffered because they had fought; othersbecause they were rich; others because theyhad enemies; and many because the courtwhich decided on their fate feared to appeardisloyal, if it hanged fewer men than thecourts-martial in other districts. There wassomething awful in the variety of sentenceswhich various tribunals pronounced against oneand the same political offence. At the com-mencement of these proceedings, the Judges atPresburg and Herrmanstadt gave sentences ofconfinement of two and three years, for actionswhich in Pesth and Arad brought the victimsto the gallows. At a later period the practicebecame more equal, but even in the mildercourts, such as at Guns, there were seven exe-cutions in one day.

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3 2 4 THE WAR JJX HUNGARY.

Thus ended the Hungarian war of 1848 and1849, provoked and fomented by the Austriangovernment; carried to the last extreme by theobstinacy of that government and by Mr. Kos-suth's ambition; sustained by the devotion ofan unfortunate and long-suffering people, andhurried to its abrupt termination by the pusil-lanimity of its civil leaders, by the deliberatetreachery of Gorgey, and by the self-seeking,the greed, and the envy of others. It leftAustria absolute over Hungary; it goaded herby deep humiliation and a sudden triumph tocruel and brutal deeds, which, if they can everbe forgiven, can never be forgotten; and it lefther the ally, the debtor, and the client of apower, whose favours, whose protection, andwhose lessons, were always fatal to thosedoomed to accept them.

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INDEX.

ABANOOURT, M., Executed at Pesth, 321.Abrudbanya, Burned by Wallackians, 157.Acz, Battle of, 238.Agram, Capital of Croatia, 65.Alibunar, Servian Positions at, 73.Altenburg, Combat at, 134.—Battle* at> 214.Apathin, Clara, Burned by Wallackians, 158.Archduke John of Austria, Regent of Germany, 69.Archduke Francis Charles, Husband to the Archduchess

Sophia, 93.—Resigns the Crown in favour of his son FrancisJoseph, 128.

Arpad, 62.Aszod, 270.Aulich, Colonel, Defeats Austrians at Turczek, 179.—Stationed

at St. Peter, 193.—General, Executed at Arad, 319.Auersperg, General, 110, i n .

BABOLNA, Combat at, 136.

Bach, Dr., Member of the Austrian Cabinet, 127.Bakonyi, Forest of, 137.Balaton, Lake, 91.Balogh, M., 45.Baloz, M., his Impeachment and Re-election, 20.Barczay, Colonel, engaged in Battle of Shwechat, 112.Bartha, Sigmund, Piked to Death by Wallackians, 158.Batthyanyi, Count Casimir, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 236,Batthyanyi, Count Louis, Supports Kossuth's Motion for Aboli-

tion of Censur, 37.—Chief of the First Hungarian Cabinet,49.—His Early Career, 53, 81, 84.—Seeks to Protect CountLamberg, 97.—Resigns his Office, 103.—Heads a Deputation

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INDEX. 327

Czernus, M., hanged by mistake, 321.Czetz, Major, Commands Hungarian Reserves in Battle of

Hernnanstadt, 163.

DAHLEN, General, 124.

Damjanich, General, occupies Szolnok, . 2 TO.—Commands atArad, 297.—Betrayed by Severe Botourline, 308.—Exe-cuted at Arad, 319.

Peak, L., Member of the Batthyanyi Cabinet, 54, 81.Debreczin, Retreat to, 144.Decanie, Mrs., Piked to Death by Wallackians, 158.Decs, Combat at, 159.Dembinski, General Henry, his Military Career, 185.—His

famous Retreat in Lithuania, 186.—He assumes the Com-mand on the Upper gneiss, 187.—Commands at Kapolna, 200.Is Arrested by his Officers, 207.—Meets Eossnth at Tisza-Flired and Resigns, 208.—Commands in Northern Hungary,267.—Takes part in Battle of Temesvar, 289.—Escapes fromHungary, 308.

Denkstein, Colonel, 67.D'Este, Duke, indebted to Louis Batthyanyi, 146.Desewfy, General, Shot after Vilagos, 322.Deva, 309.Dukla, Denies of, 380.

EDELEN, 189.

Botvos, Baron, Member of the Batthyanyi Cabinet, 56.Eperies, Persecution of Jews at, 55.—Military events at, 180.Erdody, Count Louis, 68.Bsseg, Fortress of, surrendered to Magyar Officers, 61, 86, 91.Esterhazy, Prince Paul, Member of the Batthyanyi Cabinet, 56.

FERDINAND of Austria, First King of Hungary, 8.Ferdinand of Austria, the Fifth of that name in Hungary.—

His Coronation, 17.—He opens the Diet of 1847, 34*—Hi«Ailments and Mental Debility, 43.—Abdicates in favour ofhis nephew Francis Joseph, 128.

Francis Joseph of Austria, his Advent to the Throne, 128.Frisheisen, General, 151.

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3 2 8 INDEX.

GIRON, M., executed at Pesth, 321.Gomor, 177.Gorgey, Arthur, 105.—Colonel, takes part in the Battle of

Shwechat, 113.—His Early Career, 114.—General in Com-mand of the Army at Presburg, 130.—Commands at Alten-burg, 134.—Abandons Baab, and Retreats to Buda, 135.—His Manoeuvring, 165.—His Opposition to Eossuth, 166.—His Mutinous Conduct, 169.—Defeated at Windshacht, 178.—He Crosses the Carpathians, 179.—Publishes a Muti-nous Proclamation, 191.—His Conduct at Kapolna, 203.—His Flight to Lova and Porosslo, 204.—His Mutiny, 206.—Commands the Army of the Upper Theiss, 208.—Is Ap-pointed Minister of War, 236.—Insists on Besieging Buda,240.—Is Promoted, 245.—His Proceedings at Komorn, 246.—Is Defeated at Pered, 271.—At Acs, 272.—At Komorn,274.—Commences a Retreat, 283.—Meets Eossuth at Arad,294.—Assumes the Government of Hungary, 301.—Sur-renders at Vilagos, 303.

Gotz, General, 123.—Occupies Valley of Upper Waag, 151.—Defeated and Killed at Waitzen, 214.

Griinne, Count, Adjutant to the Emperor Francis Joseph, 222.Guns, Court-martial at, 323.Guyon, Richard, Major, at Shwechat, T12.—Protects Moga's

Retreat, 113.—Colonel; his Battle at Tyrnau and Retreat toKomorn, 132.—Commands Gorgey's Rear-guard in the Re-treat to the Carpathians, 174.—Fights at Maygarad, 175.—Commands at Windshacht, 178.—Defeats Shlick atlgl6, 181.—Forces the Branitzko Defiles, 182.—Occupies Eperies, 182.—Takes Part in the Battle of Kapolna, 202.—Saves theArmy at Temesvar, 291.—Faithful to the Last, 308.

HAJNIK, Paul, Chief of Pesth Committee of Safety, 56.Hamsaberg, Hungarian Outposts at, 146.Hartlieb, General, 86.Haynau, General ; his History and Character, 248.—Ap-

pointed to the Command of the Austrian Army, 248.—Occu-pies Pesth, 280.

Hentzi, Major-General, Austrian Commander at Buda, 241.Hernad Valley, Defiles oi, 180.

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INDEX 329

Herrmanstadt, Capital of Transylvania, 160.—Battle of, 161.Hodza, Priest of St. Miklos, 62.Horn, Kossuth's Biographer, 81.Hrabowsky, Baron, Special Commissioner, 67.—His Operations

against the Servians, 72.Horban, Ex-priest of Szobotist, 6a.

IQLO*, Surprise and Skirmish at, 181.Isaszegh, Battle of, 213.Ivonicki, Prince, Executed at Pesth, 321.Izgard, Battle of, 270.

JABLONCZAY, Mr., Killed by Wallackians, 157.Janku, the Wallackian Chief, 158.— Negotiates with Bern, 28$.Jellachich, Baron Joseph, Ban of Croatia, 64.—Opposes the

Batthyanyi Cabinet, 65.—Edict against him, 66.—Travels toInsbruck, 67.—Invades Hungary, 86.—Retreats to Stuhl-weissenburg, 104.—Takes Refuge in Austria, 105.—Is ap-pointed Alter Ego, 107.—Commands at Altenburg, 134.—Commands at Moor, 136.—Is Defeated at Tapio Biski,Isaszegh, and Warasdin, 213.

JSssenak, Senator, Executed at Pesth, 321.

KANISHA, Great, 85, 91,Kapolna, Battle of, 198.Katona, M., 313.Karlowitz, Capital of the Servian Wojewodina, 172.Karolyi, Count G., fined 15,000^., 322.Kashau, Persecution of Jews at, 55.—Battle of, 176.Kazinzy, Lieutenant-Colonel, .189.Kempten, General, 86.Kerd, Persecution of Jews of, 55.Keszthely on Lake Balaton, 91.Kiraly Rew, Combat at, 270.Kisber, 105.Kiss, Colonel Ernest, Storms Servian Entrenchments at Per-

lasz.—General, Commands in Bacska and Banat.—Executedat Arad, 319.

Klapka, Colonel George, his Estimate of Gorgey, 184.—Com-mands on the Upper Theiss, 184.—Defends Tokaj, 185.—Is

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830 INDEX.

Defeated at Tarmoa, 204.—Conspires against Dembinski, 306.—Is Defeated at Komorn, 282.—Commands at Komom afterVilagos, 310.—Defeats Anstrians at Nagy Isgmand, 311 .—Consents to an Armistice, 312.—Surrenders Komorn, 316.

Klausenburg, 159.—Occupation of, 160.Klauzal, M., Member of the Batthyanyi Cabinet, 56.Kmetty, Colonel, Bouts the Austrians at Czorna, 270.—

General, commands in Transylvania, 309.—Co-operates withBern after Vilagos, 309.

Knichanin, Leader of the Servians, 73.Komorn, Surrendered to Magyar Officers, 61, 105.—Battle at,

274.—Second Battle at, 282.—Besieged by Csorich, 310.Kopreinetz, 86.Kormond, 136.Kossuth, Louis, 21.—His Career, 23, 25.—His Captivity, 18,

29.—His Election, 31.—His Parliamentary Duties, 36, 37,46.—Minister of Finance, 56.—Motion on the Italian Ques-tion, 56.—Speech on the State of the Nation, 75 to 80.—His Measures against Jellachich and Lamberg, 89, 97 .—President of Committee of Defence, 103.—His Selection ofGb'rgey, 113.—His Agitation, 119.—Proposes Evacuationof Pesth, 142.—His Declaration of Independence, 229.—President and Governor of Hungary, 232.—Connives atGorgey's Treachery, 244.—Protests against Russian Inter-vention, 254.—Returns to Pesth, 259.—Proclaims a Crusade,269.—Leaves Pesth for Solnok, 279.—Negotiates withGorgey, 195.—His Abdication and Flight, 297.

Kreutz, 86.Kubinyi, Member of the Presburg Diet, 55.

LAHKBR, General, Executed at Arad, 319.Lamberg, Count, Appointed Dictator, 96.—Assassinated at

Pesth, 100.Latour, Count, Austrian Secretary-at-War, 81.—Assassinated

at Vienna, 108.Laytha, River, 112.Lazar, General, tried by Court-martial, 169.—Shot after

Vilagos, 322.Leiningen, Count, Executed at Arad, 319.

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INDEX. 3 3 1

Leopoldstadt, Fortress of, 61.Leva, 174.Lonovics, Bishop, 37.Lonyay, Gabriel, 37.Lngos, Council of War at, 288.Liiders, General, Outwitted by Bern, 309.

MADARAZ, L., 29, 45, 55, 97, 129.

Maros, River, 152.Maros-Yasarhely, 160.Martinitz, 10.Marzibanyi, Fined for Opening Letters, 262.Mayerhofer, Colonel, Leader of Bosnian Turks, 65.—Assists the

Servians, 70, 73.Mediash, 160.Menesh Hills, 301.Messaros, Member of the Batthyanyi Cabinet, 56.—Member of

the Committee of Defence, 103.—General in Command ofNorthern Counties, 136, 143.—Defeated at Kashau, 176.—Does not take the Command at Komorn, 273.—Escapes fromHungary, 309.

Miava, Slowack Riots at, 63.Miskolz, 151, 189.Moga, General, 102.—Retreats to Martonvasar, 104.—Defeated

atShwechat, 113.Moor, Combat at, 136, 139.

NADAZ, Persecution of Jews at, 55.Nagy, Paul, 15.Nagy-Enyed, Massacre of, 157.Nagy-Igmand, Two Clergymen Shot at, 264.—Attack npon,

3 " .Nagy Sandor, General, Sent to Waitzen, 277.—Hostile to Gor-

gey's Plans, 305.—Executed at Arad, 319.Nagy Sarlo, Battle of, 214.Nemegyi, John, Shot by Wallackians, 158.Nemethi, Defile of; 176.Neusatz, Massacre at, 73.Neuaohl, 178.

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332 INDEX.

Novak, Daniel, 262.Nugent, Count, 67, 124, 151.Nyary, Paul, 79, 84.

OLMUTZ, Coup d'Etat at, 127.Orsova, 72.

PALATINE HUSSARS, their Desertion, 264.

Palatine, The, Archduke Stephen, 84, 93.^-His Flight, 95.Pakozd, 103.Palffy, Count F., 27.Pancsova, 72. f

Paniutine, General, Commands Advanced Corps of Russians,

*54-Parendotff, Combat at, 132.Paskievitsh, Prince, Commander-in-Chief of Russian Army,

257.—His famous Report, 303.Pazmandy, D., 84, 103, 143.Pered, Battle of, 214.—Combat at, 270.—Battle at, 271,Perlasz, Servians at, 73.—Battle at, 75*Perenyi, Count, 84.Perczel, Maurice, 55, 56, 93, 105.—Commands at Moor, 136

—and on the Maros, 152.—Gains Battles of St. Thomas andWarasdin, 213.—Commands the Southern Army, 268.—Occupies Weisskirchen, Orsova, and Karansebes, 269.

Pesth, Occupied by Imperialists, 147.—Occupied by Hungarians,214.—Again Occupied by Haynau, 280.

Peterwarasdin, Fortress of, 61.Phillipovich, General, Surrenders to Hungarians, 165.Piller, Colonel, 180.—His Conduct at Torna Alya, 191.Piski, 309.Platten See, 91 .Poltenberg, Colonel, Stationed at St. Peter, 193.—General,

Commands at Raab, 272.—Executed at Arad, 319.Poprad, T8O.Porsolt, L., Killed by Wallackians, 157.Presburg, Persecution of Jews at, 55.—Occupied by Austrians,

133.Puchner, General, 124, 131.—Commands in Transylvania, 161.

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INDEX. 3 3 3

Pulszky, Colonel, takes Poison, 318.Pulszky, Francis, 109.Pusztelnib, Lieutenant-Colonel, killed at Windshacht, 179.

BAAB, 105.—Occupied by Austrians, 136, 272.Baday, 29.Eajachich, Servian Patriarch, 65, 70.Eakamor, 187.Bazga, Pastor, Shot by Haynau.Beczey, Baron, 107.Bepasy, Colonel, 113.—Commands on the Maros, 152.Roman Encampments, 72, 73.Both, General, Surrenders to Hungarians, 105.Rosenberg, 180.Bothenthurm, Defiles of, 162.Budiger, General, 257.—Watches Gorgey's Movements, 301.Russians, their Entry into Hungary, 257.

SARKAD, 303.

Semlin, 72.Shlick, General, 123, 151.—Commands on Upper Theiss, 184

—Defeats Messaros at Kashau, and Attacks Tokaj, J85.—Is Defeated at Torna Alya, 190.— Also at Acz, 238.

Shmiedl, General, 86.Shiitt, Island of, 270.Shweidler, General, Commands at Pesth, 263.—Executed at

Arad, 319.Shwadorf, 112.Shwechat, Battle of, 112, 113.Shwartzenberg, Prince, Prime Minister, 127.Sibo, Combat at, 159.Si6 River, 165.Simunich, General, 123.—Attacks Guyon at Tyniau, 132.—

Blockades Leopoldstadt, 172.Sophia, Archduchess, 90, 128.Spanoghr, Field-Marshal-Lieutenant, 75.Stadion, Count, 127, 247.Stolzenburg, 164.Stein, General, 309.

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3 3 4 INDEX.

Stratimirovich, Chief of the Servians, 73.St. Miklos, 180.St. Thomas, Entrenchments at, 73.—Battle at, 74.Stuhlweissenburg, 102, 103, 146.Sukuro, Skirmish at, 103.Suplicacz, Chief of the Wojewodina, 70.Szechenyi, Count, 36, 56.Szegedin, 281.Szemere, B., 36, 56, 195.Szemes, on Lake Balaton, 92.Szendro, 190.Szentkiralyi, 45, 143.Szisko, 189.Szobotist, Massacre of Jews at, 63.Szolnok, on the Theiss, 147.

TAPIO-BIOSKI, Battle of, 213.Teleky, Count Adam, 56, 84, 91.Teleky, Count Ladislas, 186.Temesvar, Assembly of Servians at, 70.—Battle of, 290.Tergova, Kossuth's Letter from, 298.Teteny, Combat at, 146.Thaly, Colonel, Chief Engineer at Komorn, 305.—His Account

of the Siege of Komorn, 313. —Opposes the Capitulation, 315.Theben, Occupied by Austrians, 132.Tihucsa, 160.Titel, Servians, at, 73.Tisza-Fiired, Depdts at, 195.Torna Alya, Combat at, 190.Torok, General, Executed at Arad, 319.Trebersberg, General, 124.Tsheodajeff, General, 257.Turczak, Combat at, 179.Tyrnau, Combat at, 132.

UJHAZT, 29.—Opposes the Capitulation of Komorn, 315.Udvarnoky, Mrs., 133

VEOSET, GENERAL, Besieges Temesvar, 288.-—Surrenders to theRussians, 308.

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INDEX. 335

Velencze, 102, 103.Vesprim, 312.Vetter, Major, Commands at Perlasz, 75.—General, in Com-

mand at Pesth, 147.—Co-operates with Perczel at Wants-din, 213.

Yilagos, Surrender at, 302.Visocki, General, Commands on Gallician Frontier, 278.—

Leaves Hungary, 308.

WAGENSTADL, Massacre of Jews at, 63.Wallackians, their Condition in Transylvania, 157.Warasdin, 86, 144.—Battle at, 213.Wardener, General, 160.Waitzen, Battle of, 178.Weissenburg, 312.Welden, General, Defeated at Pered, 214.Wesselenyi, B., 29.Wieselburg, Occupied by Austrians, 132.Windishgratz, Prince, Besieges Vienna, m.—Commands at

Shwechat, 113.—His Career and Character, 121.—His planof Operations, 123.—Occupies Presburg, 133.—Buda andPesth, 147.—His Proclamation, 148.—His Severity, 150—His Losses, 153.—Commands at Eapolna, 202.—Is Defeatedat Hatvan and Godollo, 113.—Is Out-manoeuvred on theRakosh, 214.

Windshacht, Combat at, 178.Wohlgemuth, General, Defeated at Nagy-Sarlo, 214.Wyss, General, Defeated and Killed at Czorna, 270.

ZALATHNA, Burned by Wallackians, 157.Zatmar, Treaty of, 314.Zel, Major, 136.Zichy, Count, Hanged by Gorgey, 115.Zips, County of, 177.

THE ENP.

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