position of Germany, of Hungary, or its own. "It is plain," he said, "that the ministry in Vienna looks to St. Petersburg, and that it seeks an alliance with Russia. If Austria does not unite with Germany, she will become a subordinate ally of Russia, and at last one of her provinces." the same free will and power, to revoke. The second end to be attained was the destruction of the constitution of Hungary proper, and her assimilation to the Sclavonic and other provinces of the empire. Those who had matured that plan had no idea that it could be executed peaceably. They These were the predictions of the Hungarians understood the fiery character of the Magyar in March, 1848, and they prove that the nation race too well to expect a quiet submission on fully comprehended its position; while at the their part to a charte octroyée of a prince of same time it explains the sympathy for their Hapsburg. Hence the necessity of bringing cause in Germany, and the devotion to them the Ban Jellachich into the movement. He manifested by the heroic population of Vienna. was the third officer of the Hungarian crown; The Emperor, at first, yielded to the just and feuds between the Sclavonic tribes and the demands of the Hungarians-demands which Magyars had been entertained for a long while they had a right to make in virtue of a consti- not only by the government of Austria, but by tution existing for more than three centuries; that of Russia. The Croatians and Sclavonians but in the midst of their successes and the sympathize with the Russians, not only from successes of the liberal party in Germany, a consanguinity, but also in part, at least, from counter revolution was meditated by a cama- religion. In many of the villages in the Bannat, rilla, at the head of which was the Bavarian the peasants were in a habit of praying on Princess Sophia, sister-in-law to Emperor Fer- Sundays for "their Czar," the head of their dinand and mother of the present Emperor church, who, in return for their loyalty, gave Francis Joseph I. The camarilla itself was, them the money to build Greek churches to beside the Duchess, composed of the following worship God and the head of their church, acpersons, Archduke Lewis of Austria, uncle cording to the dictates of their priesthood. to Emperor Ferdinand and grand uncle to the Many loyal Magyars were opposed to this propresent Emperor Francis Joseph, Marshal Ra-ceeding, and frequent had been the conflicts detzki, the Ban Jellachich (the rumoured lover of the Duchess), Count Windischgratz, Count Stadion, the author of the new Austrian constitution and the author of the assassinations in Galicia, the false liberal Dr. Bach, Schmerling, the Austrian minister at the old Germanic Confederation in Frankfort-on-the-Maine, and Professors Endlicher and Hye. This camarilla has since recruited itself by new acquisitions, the most important of which is Marshal, then General, Baron Haynau. The first object of the camarilla was to put down the liberal movement in Hungary; but, above all things, to destroy the separate national existence of that country. The Hungarians, as a separate nation, might not be willing to aid in the subjugation of Italy-they might, in a popular movement, side with Germany against Austria proper;-and above all things, they might join the Poles in a last death-struggle for liberty and independence. With a view, then, to break down the Magyar nationality, and to provincialize so important a portion of the monarchy, the new Austrian constitution was framed by Count Stadion, and promulgated. This had a double aim. First, by granting a constitution by his own free voice and pleasure, the Emperor did not recognise the right of the people to demand it. The new constitution was not a concession to the demands of the people, joined to their power to enforce them; but a royal gift, which ingratitude on the part of his subjects might induce the Emperor, by between the loyal subjects of the two emperors. Sound policy would have required the Emperor of Austria to favour the Magyars; but he could never rise to a statesmanlike consideration of his monarchy. The question with him was simply which of his subjects were least disposed to insist on a liberal form of government; and finding the Croats and Sclavonians the least civilized population of Austria, he, or rather the camarilla, conceived the thought of making the Ban Jellachich the pillar of the new Austrian empire. By taking this step Austria has committed an act of high treason, not only against liberty and the political progress of the age, but against religion and civilization. She, the outpost of civilization, planted by Charlemagne as a tower of strength against the inroad of Asiatic barbarians, has herself conspired with those very barbarians, and their kindred nations, to crush the superior civilization and progress of her educated people. She basely betrayed Germany, Italy, Hungary, to the savages in epaulettes. But the camarilla had not the courage openly to hoist the flag of despotism. This was only done in Italy by Radetzki, a native of Galicia, who, whatever may be said of his cruelty, was only a fair representative of Austrian views on civil and military government. He is, beyond a doubt, the best general in the Austrian army;-a faithful adherent to the imperial house, and all its fortunes, and in his private relations, a man of strict probity. The flogging protect his faithful subjects. This aid was pro- | and comprehended the solemn engagement of mised; but in the mean time every encourage- an oath. He issued under his own hand a ment given to the Croatian insurgents. Depu- proclamation, dated Inspruck, 10th June, 1848, tations were then sent to Vienna to ascertain to his "faithful Croatians and Sclavonians," the true position of the Emperor and King; in which occurred the following sentences. but the latter had in the mean time fled to "We, the King of Hungary, Croatia, DalmaInspruck. He fled not from the Hungarians; tia, and Sclavonia, we, whose person is sacred, but from his own guilty conscience. The tell you Croatians and Sclavonians that the camarilla fled with him. The Hungarian law, too, is sacred, and must be respected. We deputies followed their King; Count Lewis have sworn by the living God, to maintain the Batthyany, President of the Council, among integrity of our Hungarian Crown, the Constituthem. tion, and the Laws, and to cause others to maintain Emperor Ferdinand was a religious man, and obey them. We shall keep our royal oath," The colours of Austria. &c. his followers not only of revolting against the law, but in spite of our parental admonitions, of continuing in his insubordination." The proclamation then deposes the Ban, and calls upon the Croatians and the Sclavonians to remain faithful to the king and to his country. This proclamation tranquillized Hungary for a time; but when the Royal Commissioner furnished the Ban with a copy of it, accompanied by an autograph letter of the Emperor, the Ban showed him other imperial autographs of a different import. From this moment Hungary bethought herself of her defence:-it was clear that she had been basely betrayed by her own sovereign. The subsequent events are known to our readers. Emperor Ferdinand returned to Vienna; but when the objects of the camarilla became known, fled a second time to Olmütz in Moravia, the strongest fortress in the Austrian monarchy. His last act was the dissolution of the Austrian parliament by military force. He would not, and did not, it is believed, consent to the invasion of Hungary. He had been anointed King of the Magyars, and he abhorred civil war. The camarilla resolved to procure his abdication, voluntarily if possible; by force if every other means should fail. If Ferdinand was not murdered like Emperor Paul of Russia, he owes the preservation of his life simply to his yielding disposition. His abdication brought Francis Joseph to the throne. He was a sovereign, unchecked by oath or constitution. The civil war now began in the most ferocious manner between the Magyars and the Croatians and Sclavonians, about 60,000 strong, led by the Ban Jellachich. The Magyars remained victorious. Vienna declared for the Hungarians, and the Ban beaten in Hungary, concluded to form a junction with the Austrian forces under Windischgratz at the capital of the monarchy. The Hungarian army 21,000 strong followed him; but mindful of their duty to their sovereign, and not wishing to quit the ground of legal resistance, they did not invade the Emperor's territory. Had they done so, affairs would have taken a different turn. The siege of Vienna would have been raised. Lombardy and Venice would have been ungarnished of Austrian troops, and Germany herself would have risen to proclaim the Republic. The Hungarian army, in the mean time, remained at a distance of about twenty miles from Vienna. Windischgratz at last raised an army, and with it stormed two of the suburbs of Vienna. During all this time, strange to say, the Austrian Parliament would not give the order for the national guards to attack Jellachich, whose army consisted of disorderly | mission) as that of Austria. The sanctity of marauders and vagabonds, and who, attacked in flank and rear, would have been unable to afford a protracted resistance. But the transition from a loyal people, demanding rational forms of government, to a sovereign people decreeing the destruction of a usurper, is not so easy as it might appear to republicans. The Austrians and Hungarians were crushed; because they contended for a constitutional monarchy, and not for the establishment of a commonwealth. The combined armies of Jellachich and Windischgratz forced the Hungarians to think of the defence of their own country. They were compelled to retreat, after a series of engagements, behind the Theiss; but defeated the Austrians in a winter campaign, which is one of the most brilliant in the whole history of wars. After the battle of Kapolna in February, 1849, the Hungarians again took the field and drove the Austrians before them. Why they did not pursue the enemy to the walls of Vienna, but rather besieged Buda, is inconceivable; but we, at this distance, cannot judge of the moral momentum which the ejection of the Austrians from the ancient capital of Hungary must have produced with so enthusiastic a people; and what strength the leaders of the army must have derived from this brilliant achievement. It was evident now that Austria alone was unable to subdue Hungary, and an alliance with Russia-the very thing Hungarian statesmen had predicted—was accordingly matured between the Czar and the youthful Emperor. Kossuth was prepared for it, and had taken his dispositions to meet it. The House of Hapsburg was now dethroned, and the independence of Hungary proclaimed by the Diet at Debreczin. It cannot be the purpose of this sketch of the civil causes of the war, rather than of the military achievements which followed in its train, to recount the events of a third and last campaign, which ended in the overthrow of a brave and loyal people, and allowed a Russian Prince to write to the Czar, "Hungary is at your feet;" but we may say a few words in conclusion on the probable consequences of this Russian interference. Russia had an aim in assisting Austria to subdue Hungary. She is the natural friend of the Sclavonian race, and she knew that by humbling Hungary, she would humble Austria herself, and for ever reduce her to a mere Russian province. She succeeded in this; and what is more, she succeeded in impressing the Magyars themselves with the idea, that the yoke of Russia is not nearly so hard, degrading, and senseless (because void of any historical historical truth requires that the world should know that all the barbarities committed in this most horrible civil war, instigated by the sovereign of the country, were committed by the Austrians: that the Russians paid for everything they took-respected the misfortunes of their prisoners- -admitted them to the honour of sitting at their own tables, protected their wives and children, and even shared their provisions with starving women and children. This ought to be known to the everlasting shame and disgrace of Austria. Even Russia had to set her an example of generosity and forbearance! In a recent letter, published in a leading European journal, a Russian General writing from Moscow, excuses the conduct of the Russians towards the Magyars in the following satirical manner. They (the Austrians) ask us why we take the credit of subduing Hungary, and why the Hungarian Generals surrender to us? I presume there are four reasons for it. First, they liked us better than they did the Austrians; second, we did not hang them; third, we kept our word and the faith of capitulations; and fourth, our Generals keep the best cooks. This explains the whole object of Russian diplomacy together with the extent to which Austria has been duped into the destruction of her own power, and the severing of the ties of loyalty between the Emperor and his subjects. And it may also explain the treason of Goergey; for we do not yet know the secret springs of action in that most remarkable of modern rebellions. A It may be asked why such honourable conditions were granted to the garrison of Comorn? The answer is easy. If Comorn had surrendered without being invited by Haynau in almost supplicating terms, it would have surrendered to the Russians on the other side of the river. The town was well provisioned and could have withstood a siege for months. little village about five miles distant served as a reservoir of provisions and cattle. The Russians might have taken it; but preferred sending word to the garrison "that it had better remove its valuable objects, as they were compelled to take the place on the following day." Many Hungarian generals and officers escaped from Groswardein and Peterwardein with Russian passports. And now we must yet bestow a word on Haynau, "the Austrian butcher." It is known that he gave the garrison of Comorn his "word of military honour" (of course there is no political honour in Austria), that the conditions of the capitulation should be respected, and that no more executions should take place for political reasons. This promise, solemnly made, was, nevertheless, infamously broken. The question occurs, is Haynau the cause of this | Cossacks have already set it the example of want of faith, or those above him, whom he has not the power to resist? Facts which have lately transpired, seem to render the latter proposition the most probable. Both Haynau and Radetzki are brave soldiers; and though cruel and barbarous in the extreme, not without those traits at least, which seem to be inseparable from bravery, even in savages. The cowardly camarilla in Vienna, with a modern Semiramis at its head, is in all probability still thirsting for blood; and as the humanity, the "butcher generals" themselves may teach it mercy and forbearance. Haynau is the natural son of the same Duke of Hesse Cassel, who sold his subjects to Great Britain to subdue the rebellious colonies of North America. "This even is the curse of evil deeds, That ever teeming, they engender evil!" Schiller's "Bride of Messina." |