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Louis Kossuth. 
 
KOSSUTH 
 
 AND THE 
 
 HUNGARIAN WAR: 
 
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 itmgjmra for litatij: 
 
 WITH NOTICES OF THE 
 
 LEADING CHIEFS AND STATESMEN 
 
 WHO DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES IN COUNCIL AND IN THE FIELD. 
 
 
 
 WITH AUTHENTIC PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 H. C. PECK & THEO. BLISS. 
 
 18 51. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 
 
 H. C. PECK & THEO. BLISS, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the 
 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON ANT) CO. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 A narrative of the Hungarian war and its heroes 
 is demanded by the American people. They sympa- 
 thized with that noble band, which strove for freedom 
 and national independence, and expressed their en- 
 thusiastic admiration of its leaders in the council and 
 in the field. They traced, with satisfaction, many 
 features of resemblance between the Hungarian revo- 
 lution and their own, and between Kossuth and Wash- 
 ington, and Klapka and Wayne. When "treason, 
 like a blight, came o'er the council of the brave," and 
 Hungary lay prostrate at the feet of the savage Hay- 
 nau, a feeling of sorrow and indignation was universal 
 in the United States. Congress ordered a national 
 vessel to be sent to convey Kossuth and his fellow exiles 
 to our happy shores. In all quarters, the dastardly 
 conduct of Austria towards the vanquished was bitterly 
 censured. 
 
 The work now offered to the public is as complete 
 as circumstances will admit at the present time. The 
 authorities relied on were " Schlesinger's War in Hun- 
 gary," various historical papers by Francis Pulszky, 
 Klapka's "Memoirs of the War of Independence," 
 
 5 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 and the "Memoirs of an Hungarian Lady," by Teresa 
 Pulszky. The authors whom we consulted had the 
 best means of obtaining accurate information, though, 
 being partisans, they may colour or misrepresent. 
 Max Schlesinger is generally impartial ; awarding due 
 praise to the courage and constancy of the Austrian 
 troops, and to the gallantry and skill of their officers. 
 His enthusiasm for the Hungarian cause, which occa- 
 sionally gives his history the tone of the pleading of 
 an advocate, is pardonable at this time. The cool and 
 correct Pulszky is the best moderator of Schlesinger, 
 and from his store of facts we have liberally drawn. 
 
 The biographies in the latter part of the work are 
 necessarily incomplete. Bern excepted, all of their 
 subjects remain, in the maturity of life, prepared, if 
 occasion serves, to fight the battle over again ; and, 
 perhaps, the greatest achievements of their lives have 
 yet to be performed. But enough is related of the 
 career of Kossuth, Gb'rgey, Dembinski, and others, 
 to give a clear conception of their characters and ca- 
 pabilities. It will be seen that the Hungarians pos- 
 sessed statesmen and generals equal, at least, to those 
 of any other country in point of talent, and filled 
 with that energy which an enthusiasm for freedom 
 alone can give. The careful study of the lives of such 
 men cannot but increase our veneration for greatness, 
 and our love of free institutions. 
 
KOSSUTH 
 
 HTJNGABIAN WAE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION — OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY TO THE REVO- 
 LUTION OF 1849. 
 
 The most ancient history of the Hungarian people 
 is buried in darkness. But one thing is certain, that 
 that people belongs to the same family of nomadic 
 tribes which sent forth the Huns, Avares, Kumans, 
 the Usi, and the Polowzi. The original country of 
 these tribes is old Turan, that immense tract of terri- 
 tory extending from the lake of Aral, from the Oxus 
 and Jaxartes, to the frontiers of China and the desert 
 of Gobi. 
 
 Among those rudiments of nations which we're 
 taking shape from the commencement of the decline 
 of the Roman Empire down to the fifteenth century, 
 the Hungarians play a conspicuous and interesting 
 part, from the fact that they alone, of all migratory 
 tribes, succeeded in weathering the rocks which threat- 
 ened those most who drifted most headlong in a cur- 
 rent of conquest. They had sufficient strength to 
 resist the enemies whom they stirred up by the con- 
 quest of their new country, and by those frequent 
 
8 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 predatory expeditions which are of common occurrence 
 in the first historical epoch of conquering nations, 
 without finding themselves compelled to sacrifice their 
 domestic liberty to the arbitrary sway of one man. 
 
 The history of Hungary, from the ninth to the 
 twelfth century, is consequently full of interest for the 
 political philosopher. In the first years of that period, 
 we see the Hungarian people, worried by foreign 
 enemies, and hurried on by those migratory instincts 
 which are peculiar to nomadic populations, leave their 
 homes in Central Asia, and proceed to the Caspian, 
 and thence to the Black Sea ; thence they direct their 
 steps to the Danube ; for a legend is rife among them 
 of a land of promise, belonging to the inheritance of 
 Attila, Prince of the Huns, and kinsman to their tribe. 
 Obedient to the advice of the Chazars, their neigh- 
 bours, we behold the chiefs of the clans assemble for 
 the election of a prince ; but, jealous of his influence, 
 they limit the extent of his power. They make a 
 State, and that State stands alone in history; for it 
 originated in a " social contract," the provisions of 
 which were not only enacted, but also observed. Thus 
 united into a nation, the Hungarian tribes proceed, 
 toward the end of the ninth century, to conquer their 
 present country. The conquest is an easy one. For- 
 tune favours them ; they become overbearing, and 
 begin to devastate the neighbouring countries. They 
 make inroads upon Southern Germany, Upper Italy, 
 and the northern provinces of the Byzantine Empire. 
 Some detached parties visit even the south of France, 
 and advance to the walls of Constantinople, until the 
 hero Botond — thus runs the Hungarian legend — 
 breaks the gates of that city with his club. 
 
 The people of Western Europe prayed at that time 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 9 
 
 in this litany : " Lord ! preserve us from the 
 Hungarians !" and dreadful rumours were current of 
 the Hungarian barbarians, who, it was said, delighted 
 in eating the hearts of their enemies. Neither the 
 Byzantine nor the German emperors could resist their 
 inroads ; all they could do was to conciliate them with 
 gifts. The two emperors did, indeed, all they could to 
 break the power of their new and formidable enemies ; 
 and the manner in which they severally attempted 
 that object is characteristic of the distinguishing fea- 
 tures of the East and West of Europe. Henry of 
 Germany (Henricus Auceps) bribed the Hungarians 
 into an armistice of nine years, and during this time 
 he built fortified cities and strongholds, and recruited 
 his armies, so that when the Hungarian hordes ad- 
 vanced, they suffered several grievous defeats. The 
 unwarlike Prince of Byzantium, on the other hand, 
 purchases peace under the same conditions as Henri- 
 cus Auceps ; and, as a pledge of the good faith of the 
 Hungarians, he takes several of their chiefs as hos- 
 tages, and conducts them to Constantinople. Here 
 they are converted to the Christian religion, and when 
 they finally return to their country, the Byzantine 
 emperor sees that they are accompanied by the Bishop 
 Hierotheos, for he is well aware that the Christian 
 religion will change the barbarous manners of the 
 Hungarians. 
 
 Christianity, thus transplanted into Hungary, had at 
 first but an indifferent success. It was only after two 
 generations that the real conversion of the Hungarian 
 people took place. They adopted the forms, not of 
 the petrified Grecian church, but of the Romans. 
 Still, the reminiscences of the first Byzantine attempt 
 at their conversion remained in the Hungarian Ian- 
 
10 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 guage. To this day, the Grecian doctrine is called 
 the old creed, (6 hit,) and the Greek Christians are 
 proud of the old faith. 
 
 While in this manner the predatory excursions be- 
 come less frequent and formidable during the tenth 
 century, we see the princes of Hungary intent upon 
 strengthening their small modicum of central power, 
 and defending it against the encroachment of the 
 chiefs of the clans. They invited foreign colonists 
 and cavaliers to settle in the country, and granted 
 them the rights and immunities enjoyed by the native 
 chiefs. The people meanwhile begin to settle, and to 
 build villages and cities ; indeed, the vast numbers of 
 prisoners from all parts of Europe, brought from their 
 predatory excursions, the aggregate number of whom 
 exceeded that of their conquerors, familiarized the 
 latter, by degrees, with the manners and customs of 
 the West and the morals of the Christian population 
 of Europe. Prince Geiza, a grandson of Arpad, the 
 conqueror of Hungary, was favourably inclined to the 
 Christian creed. 
 
 Geiza's son, Stephen, justly denominated "the 
 Saint," was the greatest man of his time. He lived 
 and acted for a twofold purpose. He endeavoured to 
 introduce Christianity into his kingdom, and to esta- 
 blish the royal power on a firm basis, without curtail- 
 ing the liberties of the people : for with him Chris- 
 tianity was the twin sister of freedom. He cannot 
 possibly effect either purpose unless his reforming 
 plans are protected by the sacred power of religion. 
 In furtherance of his object, he invited the chiefs of 
 his people to his court ; for three years he was a 
 zealous preacher and a living example of the truth of 
 the gospel. He sent Archbishop Astricus to Rome, 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 11 
 
 to inform the Pope Sylvester (Gerbert) of the volun- 
 tary conversion of the Hungarian people, and of their 
 homage to the pope as their spiritual prince. In return 
 for this important service, Stephen solicited Sylvester's 
 blessing on the crown, and his sanction of the eccle- 
 siastical arrangement in the country, and the confir- 
 mation of the bishops whom Stephen had appointed. 
 The pope was agreeably surprised by this good news. 
 He sent Stephen a crown of gold and the cross of the 
 patriarch, as the symbols of royal power and of the 
 privilege of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction, (potestas 
 circa sacra.) Besides this, he sent him the pallium 
 for two archbishops ; for, faithful to the system of 
 papacy, Sylvester was unwilling to let any one country 
 remain under a single ecclesiastical chief. 
 
 Stephen was solemnly crowned in the year 1000. 
 He convoked several diets, and revised the constitu- 
 tion, which had never been altered since the days of 
 Arpad. The influence of the Hungarian chiefs was 
 neutralized by the bishops and foreign courtiers ; 
 tithes were introduced ; the rights of the nobility 
 fixed, and the foundation laid for a system of defence 
 and taxation. These innovations were not carried 
 without serious opposition and even resistance. But 
 King Stephen suppressed with equal energy and good 
 fortune all insurrections which occurred. Thus he 
 continued, as the apostle and champion of constitu- 
 tional liberty, to administer justice and to civilize his 
 country. At once king and- priest, like Melchisedek, 
 he was the "beau ideal" of a mediaeval sovereign. 
 He resigned his crown to his nephew Peter, and died, 
 (a. d. 1036,) with the firm conviction of the stability 
 of his work, because it was holy ; his human reason, 
 indeed, had sufficient cause to doubt the continuance 
 
12 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 of institutions which were still in their infancy, and 
 which he left in weak and reluctant hands. But St. 
 Stephen's faith — (he is not only canonized by the 
 church, but to the present day every Hungarian con- 
 siders and reveres him as the founder of the State) — 
 St. Stephen's faith, we say, was borne out by future 
 facts. His institutions conquered not only the diffi- 
 culties which the dying king's boding mind foresaw, 
 but they stood firm and unshaken in storms which were 
 fatal to other nations and countries. 
 
 Peter, the successor of Stephen the Saint, surrounded 
 himself with foreigners. He was not bred among the 
 people which he was called upon to govern ; he longed 
 for the splendour and gayeties of the West, and he 
 treated the Hungarians with scorn and contempt. At 
 length, the people rose against him. They rallied 
 around the brother-in-law of the deceased king, and 
 expelled Peter, (a. r>. 1041.) 
 
 But the Emperor Henry III. offered to replace 
 Peter upon the throne if he would consent to hold 
 Hungary as a fief of the empire. Samuel could not 
 withstand the German army ; he was defeated in the 
 first encounter, captured, and assassinated, (a. d. 
 1043.) But Peter did not enjoy his throne in peace. 
 A formidable insurrection occurred ; the German em- 
 peror was tardy in sending aid, and the king was 
 defeated. He died in 1047, and was succeeded by 
 Andreas, his cousin. The emperor now threatened 
 the Hungarians with slavery or extermination. But 
 they retreated before his army, cut off his supplies, 
 and so harassed him that he was compelled to recross 
 the frontier. Thus Hungary became independent. 
 Andreas was defeated, and killed by his turbulent 
 brother Bela, in 1060. 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 13 
 
 Bela seized the sceptre, and wielded it with a strong 
 hand. He published a general amnesty, reformed many 
 abuses, and gained all hearts by strict and impartial 
 justice. A friend of liberty beyond the comprehen- 
 sion of the eleventh century, he convoked a general 
 diet at Stuhlweissenburg, for which he arranged the 
 elections on the broadest possible basis. He displayed 
 great activity and creative power in civilizing his 
 people. This great king came to a sudden death in 
 1063, and was succeeded by his son Solomon. The 
 reign of this king was very turbulent. Two or three 
 times was he in danger of losing his crown and his 
 life. To protect his kingdom, he was compelled to 
 acknowledge himself the vassal of the German em- 
 peror. At length, the treacherous conduct of Solomon 
 alienated the affections of his people. He was driven 
 from Hungary, and his brother Geiza proclaimed king. 
 Geiza died in 1072, and was succeeded by Ladislas, 
 who ought to be called the Great, as the church has 
 called him " the Saint." Having secured himself 
 against foreign wars, he devoted himself to the im- 
 provement of the condition of his people. He intro- 
 duced a code of civil and criminal laws, and directed 
 and arranged the affairs of civil life, during the transi- 
 tion from the life of herdmen to agricultural occupa- 
 tion. He governed Hungary with energy and wisdom 
 for eighteen years, extending her limits from the 
 Adriatic to the confines of Red Russia. So much were 
 his valour, ability, and Christian spirit respected, that, 
 in 1095, the command of the first body of crusaders 
 was offered to him. But he died a few months after- 
 ward, amid the tears of his people. 
 
 Ladislas was succeeded by his nephew, the ugly, 
 but strong-minded and learned Koloman, nicknamed 
 
14 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 " Book Koloman.'* This monarch displayed his ability 
 in arms by suppressing an insurrection of the Croats, 
 and protecting his kingdom against the marauding 
 hordes which accompanied the crusaders. But he was 
 violent, jealous, and ungenerous in some portions of 
 his career, and excited much hatred in his neighbours. 
 He improved the diet and the laws, being the last 
 legislator of the time of transition from Asiatic to 
 European civilization. Koloman died in 1114. From 
 that time until 1205, Hungary was chiefly under the 
 influence of Byzantium. That empire was then seized 
 by a family of clever and cunning princes — the Com- 
 neni, who covered the young state of Hungary with 
 the net of their intrigues, gaining its princes for their 
 policy by marriages, by wars, and by subsidies. The 
 Hungarian kings of this period are unlike their pre- 
 decessors. Among them we find no legislator, no 
 hero, and no statesman. The kingdom declined under 
 the influence of the intrigues and the extravagance of 
 its rulers, who were unequal to the task of continuing 
 the work of Stephen, Ladislas, and Koloman. In 
 the history of this period, there is nothing interesting 
 to the philosophical inquirer. 
 
 In 1205, Andreas II., a weak, extravagant, and 
 ambitious monarch, ascended the Hungarian throne. 
 He engaged in expensive wars to extend his dominions ; 
 and to pay the cost, he was compelled to resort to 
 extraordinary means. By deteriorating the coin, he 
 disarranged the commercial relations of the country ; 
 by selling, mortgaging, and finally doing away with 
 the castle domains, he enraged the aristocracy, and 
 they opposed him in all his measures. Insurrections 
 occurred, and the king appealed to the pope for aid ; 
 but the pope saw proper to threaten the king with an 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 15 
 
 interdict if he continued to oppress his people. At 
 length, in 1217, Andreas, to secure the pope's favour, 
 made a crusade to Palestine. There he was unsuccess- 
 ful, and returned to find his kingdom in confusion, the 
 treasury empty, and the people groaning under oppres- 
 sion. Bela, the king's eldest son, backed by the lower 
 nobility and the garrisons of the castles, demanded a 
 restoration of the old constitution and a reform of the 
 financial measures. A civil war was on the point of 
 breaking out, when the whole clergy, obedient to the 
 command of the pope, joined the reform party, and 
 negotiated a peace, the conditions of which, known by 
 the name of the Golden Bull, came to be the most 
 important pillar of Hungarian liberty. In that docu- 
 ment, the king acknowledged and confirmed the peo- 
 ple's old and hereditary rights. Andreas died in 1235. 
 Bela, the fourth of that name, who, as heir-apparent, 
 had taken the lead of the reform movement, remained 
 faithful to his principles when he ascended the throne. 
 He broke the power of the magnates, and protected 
 the great men of the nation against aristocratical 
 encroachments upon their rights, while the magnates 
 exerted the last remnants of their legal power to un- 
 dermine the king's authority. It was, therefore, a 
 great satisfaction to Bela that Kuthen, king of the 
 Kumans, immigrated into Hungary with forty thou- 
 sand of his people, (1239,) and subjected himself and 
 his followers to Bela's authority ; for that prince noped 
 to find a new source of strength in the sudden arrival 
 of this kindred nation. The Mongols, who broke loose 
 from the East, under the guidance of Batu Chan, had 
 expelled the Kumans from their settlements. These 
 people, though they became willing converts to Chris- 
 tianism, were far less civilized than the Hungarians; 
 
16 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 they had no clear idea about landed property, and 
 hence they were in perpetual conflict with the Hunga- 
 rians. This state of things engendered suspicion and 
 ill-feeling, and was finally attended with very serious 
 consequences. 
 
 In 1241, the Mongols assembled an army of five 
 hundred thousand men, and threatened to invade 
 Europe. Bela invoked the assistance of the Duke of 
 Austria, Frederick of Babenberg, and he even promised 
 to recognise the German Emperor Frederick as his 
 feudal lord, if that potentate would oppose the Mongols 
 with the whole of his power ; but the German emperor 
 refused to assist Bela, and the Duke of Austria, who 
 came to the rescue, was accompanied by a few knights 
 only : he was prepared to act as a spectator, but not 
 as an ally. Both the German emperor and the Aus- 
 trian duke had no objection to see Hungary humiliated 
 and maimed, for they anticipated that it would after- 
 ward be an easy prey. The Hungarian magnates, too, 
 were very slack in preparing for the defence ; they 
 protested, that since the king had restored the old 
 constitution of the country, which was asserted to be 
 sufficient for any defensive war, they saw no reason 
 why they should put themselves to any extraordinary 
 expense to succour him. The consequences might have 
 been foreseen. The Mongols defeated the palatine's 
 troops in the Carpathian defiles, and their outposts 
 advanced to the vicinity of Pesth, where the Duke of 
 Austria, instead of leading the Hungarians to battle, 
 was busy in inflaming them against the Kumans, whom 
 he represented as allies and spies of the Mongols ; and 
 heading a furious mob of fanatics, he attacked and 
 wounded Prince Kuthen. Upon this, part of the 
 Kumans fled from the country, part of them surren- 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 17 
 
 dered to the Mongols, and only a few of them remained 
 'With the Hungarians. At length, King Bela assembled 
 his troops and advanced against the invaders, who re- 
 treated to the river Theiss, when a decisive battle was 
 fought at Mohi. The Hungarians were defeated, and 
 the Mongols had the country in their power. Kolo- 
 man, the king's brother, died from his wounds ; and 
 the king sought refuge in the first instance with Fre- 
 derick of Austria, who, instead of offering him hospi- 
 tality, arrested him, and only released him under the 
 condition of his resigning the border counties of Hun- 
 gary. After his escape from the hands of the Aus- 
 trians, King Bela fled into Croatia, and at length, 
 being still pursued by the Mongols, he sought refuge 
 on the Dalmatian island of Veglia. The Mongols 
 devastated Hungary during one year and a half; they 
 burned and sacked villages and cities, and slaughtered 
 their inhabitants ; but when the news came to them 
 that Oktai, the Great Khan of the Golden Tribe, was 
 dead, Batu and his followers left the country, and 
 returned to Asia to vindicate Batu's rights to the 
 succession. 
 
 King Bela returned in 1242. Hungary was a 
 desert — a tabula rasa. The king was called upon to 
 found a new empire. He rebuilt the cities, and gave 
 them ample privileges, and the most perfect self-go- 
 vernment, to increase their population. He renewed 
 the title-deeds of the landed proprietors, but in doing 
 this he changed the allods into feudal holdings ; he 
 encouraged the construction of mountain-fastnesses, 
 and transplanted the Kumans from Bulgaria, whither 
 they had fled, to the plains between the Theiss and 
 the Danube. In four years, the country had so far 
 recovered that Bela was enabled to make an expedition 
 
 2 
 
18 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 of revenge against Frederick of Austria, for the pur- 
 pose of recovering the three counties which that prince 
 had forced him to resign. Fortune favoured at^first 
 the arms of the Austrian prince ; but, in the battle of 
 "Wiener-Neustadt, he fell, pierced by the arrow of the 
 Count Frangepani, a friend of King Bela, the same 
 who had hospitably received him at Veglia. 
 
 Although victorious over the Mongols, Bela had to 
 contend with a formidable party of the magnates, 
 headed by his ambitious and energetic son Stephen, 
 and his last years were imbittered with domestic strife. 
 He died in 1220. Stephen and Ladislas, his succes- 
 sors, effected nothing of importance. One died early, 
 the other abandoned himself to pleasure. Andreas 
 III., the last king of the house of Arpad, died of 
 poison in 1801. 
 
 Foreign princes now occupied the throne of Hun- 
 gary. Feudal laws and institutions were introduced, 
 and the kingdom became more warlike than ever. 
 Charles Robert of Anjou, a grandson of the King of 
 Naples, and the daughter of Bela IV., received the 
 Hungarian crown in 1309 from the diet. The new 
 king was not of a very warlike disposition, and strove 
 to found the greatness of the country upon the arts 
 of peace. But he was compelled to contend with 
 powerful and turbulent vassals. He did not like diets, 
 and only once convoked the states of the realm to 
 ratify some barbarous penalties inflicted upon an 
 enemy. He liked to meddle with foreign affairs. 
 Extending his influence far beyond the limits of his 
 kingdom, he set an example, rare in those violent 
 times, of avoiding war by arbitration. Charles Robert 
 died in 1342, after a long reign, under which the coun- 
 try had attained a considerable degree of prosperity. 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 19 
 
 His son, Louis the Great, was seventeen years of 
 age when he was crowned, amidst the thundering 
 cheers of the Hungarians, six days after the inter- 
 ment of his father. Of Hungarian education, — beau- 
 tiful, chivalrous, and endowed with extraordinary ta- 
 lents, — he was the favourite of the Hungarian nobility. 
 His military exploits gained him the surname of the 
 Great, — he extended the limits of Hungary to three 
 seas, — he was a great statesman, but his policy was 
 more of a foreign than of a domestic character, for 
 the aim of his policy was the extension and lustre of 
 his country, and not its liberty. 
 
 His first war was adventurous. He proceeded to 
 Naples to revenge the murder of his brother. King 
 Robert of Naples had died there without male issue, 
 (1343.) The crown belonged to the Hungarian 
 branch of the Anjous, and in order to prevent any 
 possible dispute, Charles Robert had concluded a 
 treaty with his uncle Robert, in virtue of which 
 Andreas, the second son of Charles Robert, was to 
 marry Jane, Robert's grand-daughter, and share with 
 her the royal dignity of Naples. But the profligate 
 Neapolitan princess despised her weak husband, An- 
 dreas, who was no more than sixteen years old, and 
 she would by no means recognise him as King of 
 Naples, but only as Prince of Salerno. She ordered 
 him at length to be strangled with a silken cord, by 
 her cousins, the Princes of Tarento and Durazzo in 
 Aversa. No sooner had King Louis received these 
 tidings than he applied to the pope, Clement VI., and 
 demanded from him, as liege lord of Naples, the depo- 
 sition of Jane, the murderess of her husband. The 
 pope hesitated, but the king conducted an Hungarian 
 army, under a black banner, throughout Italy. Naplea 
 
20 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 surrendered, and Jane fled to Avignon, which was an 
 inheritance of her family, with Louis of Tarento, 
 with whom she had married. Charles of Durazzo was 
 the only murderer of the unhappy Andreas who fell 
 into the hands of the king ; he was executed in the 
 same room in which Andreas had been strangled. 
 
 Louis now took the title of King of both Sicilies, 
 and after having left in Naples an Hungarian garrison, 
 and Stephen Laczkovics as viceroy, returned to Hun- 
 gary, without ceasing to urge the pope to pronounce a 
 verdict on Jane. As the tidings reached her that 
 King Louis had left Naples, she sold her rights over 
 Avignon to the pope, and returned to Naples, where 
 the small garrison of the Hungarians was pressed 
 very hard by an insurrection. Louis was therefore 
 compelled to proceed, (1350,) a second time to Naples. 
 He took Canossa, Salerno, and Aversa by storm, and 
 conquered the country again. Yet he was soon con- 
 vinced that the Neapolitans would never willingly bear 
 the yoke of foreigners. In the mean time, Pope Cle- 
 ment had pronounced the sentence, that Jane had been 
 bewitched into the murder of Andreas, and should con- 
 sequently keep the realm, and only indemnify Louis 
 by three hundred thousand gold florins for the ex- 
 penses of the war ; Louis left Naples, and forgave the 
 beautiful sinner the expiatory sum. 
 
 This was the result of the adventurous war of the 
 Hungarians in Naples. Its immediate consequences 
 to Hungary were, that the king allotted for ever, to 
 the nobility in the diet of 1351, the ninth part of the 
 whole agricultural produce of the peasantry, as an 
 indemnification for the sacrifices of the nobles in that 
 war. This is the origin of the Ninth, a tax greatly 
 injurious to industry, and abolished only so late as the 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 21 
 
 year 1848. Also feudalism was legally introduced in 
 the above-mentioned diet. The free disposal of landed 
 property was taken away from the proprietor ; the 
 family was declared sole proprietor, and the individual 
 became only usufructuary. Thus landed property was 
 fettered and immobilized, but feudalism could not be 
 carried so far as to exclude female succession : first, 
 because the king had no sons, and willed the crown to 
 fall on a daughter ; next, the Hungarians were ac- 
 customed to female succession ; the daughter could 
 therefore by no means be excluded from the heirship 
 of the land. 
 
 By the introduction of feudalism, the castle system 
 of baronies ceased to form the basis of the Hungarian 
 military system ; therefore, the garrison of the castle, 
 which besides belonged to the freemen, were ennobled 
 by the king. As they had but small landed property, 
 they became the ancestors of the latter peasant nobles, 
 (Nobiles unius Sessionis.) 
 
 Louis waged many wars during his reign of forty 
 years, and distinguished himself by his generosity, as 
 well as by his bravery. He vanquished in single com- 
 bat Keystutt, Prince of Lithuania, who had invaded 
 Gralicia during the Neapolitan war. After having dis- 
 armed his enemy, the king released him, under tlie 
 condition that he would accept the Christian faith. 
 The heathen prince pledged himself to do it, but it 
 was only his son who redeemed his word. In the war 
 against the Venetian republic, Louis beleaguered Tre- 
 viso, in Friaul. During the siege, the Doge Gradenigo 
 died, and Delfino, the commander of the fortress, was 
 elected in his stead. The Venetians requested a free 
 retreat for their new duke ; Louis granted the request, 
 and Delfino proved his gratitude by the immediate 
 
22 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 conclusion of a peace with the chivalrous king. The 
 Hungarians got by the treaty the coast of Dalmatia, 
 while the supremacy of the republic over the Dalma- 
 tian isle was recognised by Hungary, and commercial 
 privileges were insured to the Venetian merchants. 
 In the East, King Louis forced Bazarad, the Prince 
 of Wallachia, to acknowledge again the superiority of 
 Hungary. After the death of Casimir, King of Poland, 
 who was the uncle of Louis by the mother's side, he 
 was called to the throne by the Poles, and crowned at 
 Cracow, (1370.) The affairs of Hungary forbade him 
 to remain long in Poland ; he therefore appointed his 
 mother Elizabeth, sister of the late King Casimir, re- 
 gent of the country, and returned himself to Visegrad. 
 But the great task of his life was less the aggrandize- 
 ment of his realm than the propagation of the Romish 
 creed among his subjects. He not only converted the 
 heathen Kumans, but likewise succeeded in persuading 
 the Ruthenians of the oriental creed, who at that pe- 
 riod had settled in Hungary, to submit to the authority 
 of the pope. His endeavours in the same direction 
 proved fruitless with the Wallachs in Hungary and 
 Transylvania. It was in vain that he removed their 
 oriental clergymen, and replaced them by Catholic 
 priests from Dalmatia ; the Wallachs steadily kept to 
 their creed. At last, many of them could no longer 
 bear their oppression, and emigrated to Moldavia. But 
 the king pursued them even to their new country ; here 
 too they could not escape his sway, yet he protected 
 them against external enemies, and defeated the Kri- 
 mean Tartars between the Bug and the Dnieper when 
 they extended their plundering incursion as far as into 
 Moldavia. Altomos, the Tartar prince, was killed by 
 the king in single combat, and his son was compelled 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 23 
 
 to adopt Christianity. Louis died in 1392 ; his death 
 prevented the execution of his great design to unite 
 firmly the kingdoms of Poland and Hungary ; thus to 
 create a powerful realm, which, in the east of Europe, 
 would occupy the same position which France had ob- 
 tained in the west, and would take the lead of Chris- 
 tianity and civilization in the east. But the misgo- 
 vernment of Elizabeth made in Poland every regency 
 unpopular. The Poles claimed a king for themselves. 
 The beautiful Hedviga, daughter of King Louis, be- 
 came Queen of Poland, and yielding to political reasons, 
 she married Uladislas Jaghello, Prince of Lithuania, 
 who, after having been baptized, united his own duchy 
 to the kingdom of his wife. 
 
 In Hungary, Maria, the elder daughter of the great 
 Louis, was crowned queen ; her royal consort, Sigis- 
 mund of Luxemburg, subsequently Emperor of Ger- 
 many, and King of Bohemia, received the title of 
 " Guardian of the Realm." It was now, for the first 
 time, that a woman wore the sacred crown of St. 
 Stephen. But to the wo of the country, neither she 
 nor her mother Elizabeth, who greatly influenced her, 
 was adequate to her important duties. Uladislas Ja- 
 ghello took possession of Galicia ; Dalmatia and Croa- 
 tia revolted against the queen, and the Ban Horvathy, 
 Palisna, the Prior of Yrana, and Laczkovics, the valiant 
 companion of King Louis in his Neapolitan campaign, 
 invited the King of Naples, Charles Martel " the 
 Little," to the throne of Hungary, as he was the next 
 male to King Louis. 
 
 The queen was unpopular, and Charles Martel was 
 received with enthusiasm and proclaimed king without 
 opposition. But the partisans of Maria invited Charles 
 to a conference, and then treacherously slew him. 
 
24 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Hungary once more acknowledged Maria, though un- 
 willingly. In 1387, Sigismund, "guardian of the 
 realm," took advantage of the general wish for an en- 
 ergetic sovereign, to assemble a diet and have himself 
 chosen king. The most important event of his reign 
 was the encounter with the Turks under Bajazet, in 
 1396, at Nicopolis. Sigismund was defeated, and his 
 army totally destroyed. This king's reign was the 
 longest in the Hungarian annals. He became King 
 of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany, and ruled about 
 half a century. Prodigality and treachery were the 
 prominent features of his character. The first caused 
 him to be constantly involved in financial difficulties, 
 and the second drew upon him the determined hatred 
 of many powerful personages. He neglected the in- 
 ternal alBfairs of Hungary, though he sanctioned several 
 wise regulations touching municipal rights, projected 
 by others. Sigismund died in 1437. 
 
 Albert, Archduke of Austria, and son-in-law of 
 Sigismund, succeeded him upon the throne of Hun- 
 gary. His powers were greatly restrained by the 
 Hungarian diet. Albert was elected emperor, and 
 marched against Sultan Murad, who had attacked 
 Servia; but the expedition of the king was an un- 
 fortunate one. The Hungarians were beaten, and, 
 decimated by ravaging sickness, were forced to retire. 
 Albert died on his retreat, in 1437. 
 
 During the minority of his successor Uladislas, 
 John Hunyady, the famous warrior, routed the Turks 
 in several great battles, took five fortresses, and com- 
 pelled the sultan to acknowledge the supremacy of 
 Hungary over all the Danubian principalities. Ula- 
 dislas, the young king, upon the representations of 
 Cardinal Julian Cesarini, broke the treaty, and took 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 25 
 
 up arms to endeavour to crush the power of the Turks. 
 In 1444, relying upon the promises of aid from the 
 army of the famous George Castriot and the Genoese 
 fleet, the king crossed the Danube with only twenty 
 thousand men. The Turks, under Murad, met him 
 at Varna, and an obstinate and bloody battle ensued. 
 The impetuous Uladislas was killed, his forces routed, 
 and the heroic Hunyady made prisoner. The latter, 
 however, soon regained his liberty, and was elected 
 Governor of Hungary, until the posthumous son of 
 Albert, Ladislas, should become of age. For ten 
 years did this hero sway nobly the destinies of his 
 country, defending its frontier, and vigorously ad- 
 ministering affairs at home. The Turks never had a 
 more formidable foe. Ladislas ascended the throne in 
 1453. In 1456, Hungary was attacked by Mohammed 
 II., who marched up to Hunyady's fortress of Bel- 
 grade. The king sent no forces to the assistance of 
 the old hero. But Hunyady raised an army at his 
 own expense, and on the 14th of July, attacked the 
 army of the sultan, and gained a glorious victory. 
 He died twenty days after the battle. 
 
 Upon the death of the weak and cruel Ladislas, in 
 1457, the people elected Matthias Corvinus, Hunyady's 
 second son, King of Hungary. Matthias reigned 
 thirty-one years, distinguishing himself as a king, a 
 general, a statesman, and a friend of liberty. The 
 position and circumstances of the country, and his own 
 warlike character, involved him in frequent wars, and 
 his talent triumphing over obstacles, he became the 
 parent of modern strategy. He was the first to esta- 
 blish a standing army upon the modern basis, and 
 thus was always prepared for his enemies. The 
 Turks were defeated by Matthias in several battles, 
 
26 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 and compelled to keep within their limits. He then 
 became involved in a contest with the treacherous and 
 vindictive Emperor Frederick of Austria. Matthias 
 conquered the majority of the Austrian cities in 1472, 
 and then consented to an advantageous peace. The 
 emperor violated the treaty, and Matthias renewed the 
 attack in 1480. In 1485, he besieged and conquered 
 the city of Vienna. Matthias introduced great order 
 into the administration of the affairs of his kingdom, 
 encouraged science and the arts, founded a university 
 at Pressburg, and collected a valuable library. He 
 died at Vienna in 1490. 
 
 Under the successor of Matthias, Uladislas II., the 
 power of the oligarchy steadily increased, until the 
 king's powers were very limited. Various insurrections 
 occurred, and the factions of Bathory and Zapolya oc- 
 casioned much violence. The strength of the kingdom 
 declined rapidly. Diet followed diet, in quick succes- 
 sion, each one withholding from the king the means 
 of defending the kingdom, and striving to bind his 
 hands still tighter. During the minority of Louis II., 
 the aristocratic party became almost absolute. When 
 the king at length seized the sceptre, he showed a 
 morbid desire, but wanted strength to rule. The 
 Queen Maria, sister of Charles V., was more daring 
 and able, and she took measures of resistance to the 
 power of the magnates. While this struggle was 
 going on, the middle class, the main strength of every 
 country, rose in opposition to the magnates, and 
 promised the king, if he would accede to their de- 
 mands of reform, they would assist him in throwing 
 off the fetters imposed upon him by the diet. But the 
 weak king countenanced the court party instead, and 
 that party triumphed. 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 27 
 
 In the mean time, a mighty storm was gathering in 
 the south. Soljman the Magnificent determined to 
 invade Hungary with an army whose numbers and 
 discipline seemed irresistible. The king and the mag- 
 nates trifled the time, until the sultan had crossed the 
 Danube and Drave. 
 
 At length the king took the field, and encamped at 
 Mohats with a small force of twenty thousand men ; 
 but messengers had come from Szegedin to tell him 
 that Zapolya was advancing to the rescue with four- 
 teen thousand men, and he prayed that the king would 
 not engage in a battle until his force was in the field. 
 A similar message was brought from Christoph 
 Frangepani, who approached from Croatia, with fif- 
 teen thousand men. But the court party would not 
 condescend to owe the salvation of the country to 
 the hated Zapolya, and they urged the king to attack 
 the Turks. Tomory, the Archbishop of Kaloesa, who 
 had formerly resigned his sword for a cowl, and who 
 had sworn to doff his pallium for the sword, had been 
 appointed commander-in-chief of the king's forces. 
 Tomory was eager to begin the fight. Many of the 
 ancient officers were aware that twenty-five thousand 
 men had no chance against the superior forces of the 
 Turks ; but they all, following the impulse of the care- 
 less haughtiness and martial resolution, which charac- 
 terize the Hungarians, joined their voices with the 
 clamour of those who advised the king to attack the 
 Turks. Only Francis Perenyi, the Bishop of Gross- 
 vardein, remarked, that " since Bishop Bradarish had 
 been ambassador at Rome, he thought the best plan 
 would be to send him back to the pope, to entreat his 
 holiness to canonize the twenty thousand Hungarian 
 
28 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 martyrs, who were to lay down their lives for the 
 cause of Christendom." 
 
 The Hungarian battle-line leant on the swamps of 
 Mohats. Solyman attacked them on the 29th of 
 August, 1526. His forlorn hopes were driven back, 
 and the Hungarians advancing, made an onset on the 
 sultan's artillery, which consisted of two hundred can- 
 nons. The fire of the Turks mowed them down by 
 rank and file ; but the files in the rear advanced with 
 a fatal determination, and the combat came soon to a 
 close, because none of the Hungarians were left to 
 continue it. Tomory, Perenyi, and six bishops, George, 
 the brother of John Zapolya, twenty-eight bannerets, 
 five hundred members of the aristocracy, and twenty- 
 two thousand soldiers were killed in this most bloody 
 battle. The king fled, but his horse fell in the rivulet 
 of Csele, and Louis II. ended his inglorious life by 
 being drowned when flying from the field of battle. 
 None escaped but the Palatine Bathory, Peter Perenyi, 
 Francis Batthyanyi, and the Bishop Bradarish, with 
 three thousand of the pope's mercenaries. 
 
 Solyman advanced to Buda without meeting with 
 any resistance. He sacked that city, and devastated 
 the districts on the other side of the Danube ; but he 
 returned to his empire, carrying with him a fabulous 
 amount of booty, and seventy thousand captives ; and, 
 although he did not extend his dominion across the 
 Save and Drave, the power of the Hungarians was 
 not the less effectually broken. 
 
 When Solyman quitted the country, after his pre- 
 datory incursion, the diet unanimously elected John 
 Zapolya king. The powerful aristocrat, who had so 
 often defied the kings, became a feeble monarch, de- 
 ficient in energy and determination. Instead of at 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 29 
 
 once crushing the partisans of his rival Ferdinand, he 
 allowed them to intrigue and increase in strength until, 
 on the 1st of January, 1527, they succeeded in getting 
 Ferdinand recognised as king by the states of Croatia. 
 Then Zapolya offered to negotiate, instead of taking 
 the field. The wily Ferdinand accepted the offer, but 
 suddenly broke off negotiations, attacked and de- 
 feated the unprepared Zapolya, drove him from the 
 kingdom, took the oath to the constitution of Hun- 
 gary in November, 1527, and was solemnly crowned 
 king. 
 
 Zapolya, driven to extremity, applied for aid to 
 Solyman. The great sultan was ever ready for an 
 invasion which promised booty and power. He entered 
 Hungary in 1529, and met with no resistance. In 
 September, he was under the walls of Vienna. Here 
 he was repulsed, and as winter approached, he raised 
 the siege, delivered Hungary to Zapolya, and retired 
 within his own dominions. Scarcely had the Turks 
 retired, when Ferdinand again entered Hungary and 
 continued the war against John Zapolya. The latter, 
 hard pressed, again applied for and obtained the aid 
 of Solyman, (a. d. 1532.) The sultan again entered 
 Hungary. The great object of this invasion was Aus- 
 tria, as it was not apprehended that Ferdinand could 
 make a stand. But the progress of the Turks was 
 checked by a band of seven hundred heroes under 
 Jurissich, in the fortress of Guns, and, after wasting 
 the neighbouring country, the sultan retired. By the 
 peace of Grosswardein, made in 1538, the kingdom was 
 divided between John and Ferdinand. John died in 
 1540. His son, John Sigismund, a child in the cradle, 
 was acknowledged king by Solyman. 
 
 As Ferdinand did not respect the treaty, the sultan 
 
30 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 entered Hungary for the fourth time, and left Turkish 
 garrisons in Ofen and other fortresses. This was the 
 beginning of the Turkish rule in Hungary. A con- 
 flict was maintained between those who held the go- 
 vernment for John Sigismund and Ferdinand, until 
 1564, when Ferdinand died. During this time, the 
 power of the Turks in Hungary rapidly increased. 
 Maximilian, the successor of Ferdinand, is usually re- 
 presented as a noble and tolerant prince. But the 
 Hapsburg policy was so uniform and consistent toward 
 Hungary, that even the noble nature of Maximilian 
 was warped and tarnished in its pursuit. He gave the 
 same assurances as his father had given, and kept them 
 with no better faith. The laws of the country were 
 continually violated. He soon fell into a strife with 
 John Sigismund, but could not conquer him, and was 
 obliged to conclude a peace. In 1566, Solyman made 
 his last campaign in Hungary, and it had nearly proved 
 fatal to Austria. But after crossing the Danube, the 
 Turks were arrested by Nicholas Zrinyi in the fortress 
 of Szigeth. The siege of this place cost the enemy 
 twenty thousand men ; and in the mean time, the em- 
 peror collected an army. But when he heard that 
 Solyman the Magnificent had died before Szigeth, 
 and that the Turks were retiring, he also disbanded 
 Iris forces. John Sigismund died in 1571, and Maxi- 
 milian in 1574. Neither of them did any thing for 
 Hungary. 
 
 Under Rodolph, the successor of Maximilian, the 
 Reformation spread over Hungary, its doctrines being 
 adopted by all classes. The chief aim of Rodolph's 
 life seemed to be the eradication of these doctrines, 
 and a constant war was waged against those who held 
 them. 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 31 
 
 The history of Hungary from 1576 to 1604 has none 
 of the grandeur of former epochs. The Turks con- 
 stantly gained ground in consequence of the weakness 
 of the emperor's measures. The country was in a 
 deplorable condition. Rodolph seemed to consider it 
 as a storehouse, which he should exhaust, rather than 
 a community which he should strengthen and improve. 
 Oppressions of all kinds were the portion of the Hun- 
 garians. But at length, in 1604, their patience waa 
 exhausted, when the emperor forbade any discussion 
 in the diet upon religious matters, and ordered any 
 one who should intrude such questions upon the diet 
 to be punished as a pernicious reformer. This viola- 
 tion of the constitution at once excited an insurrection, 
 in which the malcontents, headed by Stephen Boes- 
 kay, were everywhere successful. In 1606, a peace 
 was negotiated. Rodolph promised perfect religious 
 freedom and the strict maintenance of the Hungarian 
 constitution. He also acknowledged Boeskay as Prince 
 of Transylvania and lord of a portion of Hungary. 
 
 Upon the abdication of Rodolph, the Hungarians 
 readily elected his brother, Matthias, king, (1608.) 
 Matthias strove to strengthen the Catholic cause in 
 Hungary, and was assisted by several able churchmen. 
 But the doctrines of the Reformation had taken too 
 deep a root. Matthias died in 1619, and was succeeded 
 by his brother, Ferdinand II., the author of the Thirty 
 Years' War. 
 
 The pupil and friend of the Jesuits, he had in 1600 
 made a vow at Loretto to restore the Romish Church 
 to its ancient glory and power upon the ruins of Pro- 
 testantism. To this object he subordinated every other 
 purpose in life : with foreknowledge and intent he 
 kindled the bloodiest of all religious wars ; every means 
 
32 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 was in his sight justifiable to obtain his purpose ; cun- 
 ning and cruelty, dissimulation and open force, the 
 sword and the scaffold. His most faithful servant 
 and counsellor in Hungary was Peter Pazman, first a 
 Jesuit and afterward Archbishop of Gran — learned, 
 adroit, eloquent, disinterested, the most dangerous 
 enemy of the Protestants, but devoted to his native 
 country, and more conscientious than his master on 
 the throne, in the choice of the means by which he 
 achieved his aims. 
 
 Niklas Eszterhazy soon joined Pazman, the grand- 
 son of an insignificant nobleman, but who soon dis- 
 tinguished himself by his talents, and rose step by 
 step to the dignity of Palatine. He understood his 
 countrymen perfectly ; his judgment was cold and 
 decisive ; he loved his country, and regulated his pas- 
 sions ; but he was especially the man of the moment, 
 prompt to assist in escaping from every embarrassment. 
 Selfish as he was, he never forgot the interests of his 
 family, and amassed that immense property by which 
 his house was at a later period distinguished. 
 
 Opposed to these three champions of Catholicism, 
 stood Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, as dis- 
 tinguished in the field as in the cabinet. An Hungarian 
 like Pazman, a statesman like Eszterhazy, and a Jesuit 
 like Ferdinand himself, he devoted his life and his 
 talents to the noblest idea — the maintenance of poli- 
 tical and religious freedom in Hungary. It was not 
 Protestantism, but toleration, for which he struggled ; 
 he supported Catholic churches in Transylvania, and 
 did not even expel the Jesuits from his principality, 
 although he took the field against their intrigues in 
 Hungary. 
 
 Even before the death of Matthias, Ferdinand came 
 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 33 
 
 forward openly against the Protestants ; but his ordi- 
 nances everywhere aroused rebellion. Count Thurn 
 surprised him at the head of the confederate Protest- 
 ant estates of Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia, in the 
 palace in Vienna, and was on the point of confining 
 him prisoner in a convent, when the Dampierre regi- 
 ment of cavalry, joined by the students and citizens 
 of Vienna, rescued him and dispersed the insurgents. 
 Ferdinand suppressed the Austrians, and after a short 
 campaign, in the battle of the White Mountain, de- 
 feated the Bohemians, in 1620, who had declared him 
 to have forfeited the throne. After the victory, the 
 work of the executioner commenced ; twenty-eight 
 of the most distinguished Bohemians were publicly 
 decapitated ; thousands were thrown into prison ; the 
 property of the Bohemian aristocracy was confiscated, 
 and distributed among the officers and favourites of 
 the emperor ; the constitution of Bohemia was abro- 
 gated, and Protestantism suppressed. 
 
 In Hungary, the plans of Ferdinand were defeated 
 by the genius of Bethlen Gabor. Here likewise the 
 Protestants rose when Ferdinand, against religious 
 liberty, began to circumscribe the Vienna peace. The 
 arms of Bethlen were victorious ; the prince was ever 
 ready for war, but not less inclined to peace. Bethlen 
 was elected King of Hungary at Neusohl, in 1620 ; 
 but he received this act of the diet only as a homage 
 rendered to his efforts by the Hungarians, and would 
 not be crowned, although the crown and three-fourths 
 of the country were in his power. Ferdinand, in spite 
 of his vow at Loretto, was compelled, in 1621, to con- 
 clude a peace at Nikolsburg, which was ratified as the 
 law of the land in 1622. The peace of Vienna and 
 religious freedom were again confirmed, and a part of 
 
34: KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. , 
 
 Hungary was ceded to Bethlen. But as Ferdinand, 
 taking advantage of the fortune of war in Germany, 
 neglected to observe the articles of the peace, Bethlen 
 rose a second and third time, and, by his skilful con- 
 duct of the war, won in Gyarmath and Pressburg new 
 conditions of peace. In these wars, in which he never 
 lost a battle in person, he seldom resorted to the assist- 
 ance of the Turks ; and, after having concluded a 
 peace, he also mediated the same continually between 
 the emperor and the sultan. It appears, too, that he 
 had formed the plan of uniting Moldavia, Wallachia, 
 Transylvania, and Eastern Hungary in one kingdom; 
 but death overtook him in 1629, and interrupted his 
 efforts, by which Transylvania was raised up anew. 
 
 Bethlen's widow, Catharina, Princess of Branden- 
 burg, had been secretly converted by the Jesuits to 
 the Romish church, and entered upon negotiations 
 with Ferdinand to deliver up Transylvania to him ; 
 but, upon the discovery of her intrigues, the rich and 
 avaricious George Rakoczy was elected Prince of 
 Transylvania, who soon entered into an alliance, as a 
 Protestant prince, with Gustavus Adolphus, King of 
 Sweden, the champion of Protestantism. Ferdinand 
 was obliged, in 1633, to ratify the former articles of 
 peace, and to recognise Rakoczy as Prince of Tran- 
 sylvania. In Hungary, however, Ferdinand's decree, 
 by which the exports of the country into Austria were 
 subjected to high duties, created great dissatisfaction ; 
 and as the emperor was seeking, during his own life, 
 to secure the succession to the throne for his son, 
 afterward Ferdinand III., he could not come forward 
 here so openly against the Protestants as he did in 
 Bohemia and Austria. Ferdinand III. was at length 
 elected and crowned King of Hungary in 1636 ; the 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 35 
 
 old king died a few months afterward, and his wise 
 counsellor, Peter Pazman, did not long survive him. 
 
 Ferdinand III. was actuated by the same principles 
 as had involved his father in the interminable religious 
 war; but he was more moderate, and not so obstinate. 
 What Pazman had been to Ferdinand II., the Palatine 
 Niklas Eszterhazy was to Ferdinand III. He exhorted 
 him frequently to adhere to his promises, to respect 
 the Hungarian constitution, and not by continual eva- 
 sions to arouse the mistrust of the country. Peace 
 could only be maintained by yielding ; for Rakoczy, 
 who even in Transylvania was rendered unpopular by 
 his avarice and mistrustful character, was only danger- 
 ous in Hungary when the just grievances, which were 
 submitted to the diet, remained unheeded. But 
 Eszterhazy's voice could not prevail ; Rakoczy invaded 
 Hungary in 1644 ; the war lasted until 1645, charac- 
 terized more by skilful marches of the troops than by 
 sanguinary battles, until at length Ferdinand, who also 
 earnestly desired to bring the war in Germany to a 
 close, yielded in Hungary, and again concluded a peace 
 with Rakoczy at Linz, in which the conditions of the 
 peace of Vienna and Mikolsburg were not only ratified, 
 but extended. 
 
 Like his predecessor, Ferdinand III. endeavoured 
 to settle the succession to the throne during his life- 
 time. The Hungarians fulfilled his wishes ; first the 
 emperor's son, Ferdinand IV., and, upon his death 
 soon afterward, Leopold I., were in turn chosen king. 
 Ferdinand himself died in 1657 ; his monument is the 
 peace of "Westphalia and that of Linz, by which he 
 terminated the long war in Germany and Hungary. 
 
 The government of Leopold I. continued for nearly 
 half a century, from 1657 to 1705, a period of terror 
 
36 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 and oppression to Hungary ; and }^et Leopold's per- 
 sonal character was not dissimilar from that of his 
 ancestors : proud, narrow-minded, upright in private 
 life, but in public life continually breaking every pledge 
 and promise, like all the sovereigns of his house who 
 had ruled Hungary before him. He was far less blood- 
 thirsty than the fanatical Jesuit, Ferdinand II. ; but 
 under no King of Hungary in ancient times — not even 
 under Sigismund — were so many scaifolds erected, so 
 many distinguished houses spoiled of their possessions, 
 so many patriots banished, as under Leopold ; and all 
 this because he had no Pazman, no Niklas Eszterhazy 
 at his side, who might have taught him to respect co- 
 venants and to observe the oath which he had sworn 
 to the constitution. His only advisers were Germans 
 and Bohemians — the Porzias, the Lobkoviczes, the 
 Hochers, the Kollonics, enemies of the Hungarians 
 and of all constitutional freedom. It is true, that at 
 a later period Paul Eszterhazy, an Hungarian, the first 
 prince of that name, enjoyed the confidence of the 
 emperor, but only because he stifled every patriotic 
 feeling within him, and became a willing tool of court 
 intrigue. 
 
 The emperor had the good fortune, in his war against 
 the Turks, to have three great generals, one after an- 
 other, who, by their humanity, won the hearts of the 
 Hungarians — Duke Charles of Lorraine, the Margrave 
 Ludwig of Baden, and Prince Eugene of Savoy. All 
 the lustre which brightens the tragical government of 
 Leopold emanates from these three names. 
 
 The war with the Turks began in 1664. Niklas 
 Zrinyi, equally great as hero, statesman, and poet, the 
 grandson of the hero of Szigeth, attacked the Turks 
 during the winter, and caused them much serious loss. 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 37 
 
 But Montecucculi, the enemy of Zrinyi and the Hun- 
 garians, did not support him ; he traversed the country 
 with his army, until at length he gave the grand vizier 
 a signal defeat at St. Gothard, whereupon the German 
 ambassador of the Emperor Reuminger, in an incon- 
 ceivable manner, concluded an ignominious peace with 
 the Turks. Leopold engaged to furnish a present to 
 the sultan of two hundred thousand florins, recognised 
 the status quo as the basis of the peace, and promised 
 to raze the fortress of Szekelyhida. 
 
 The Hungarians were incensed at this peace, which, 
 was concluded without their assent ; but they were 
 still more exasperated by the extortions of Leopold's 
 German mercenaries, " which so exhausted the people 
 that even the hated Turkish yoke seemed to be more 
 endurable than the oppression of the Germans." In 
 addition to this, the commanders were foreigners, while 
 the Hungarians were everywhere neglected and ex- 
 cluded from the government. 
 
 At length, the grandees of the kingdom, headed by 
 Wesselenyi, the Palatine, determined to assemble an 
 army and force Leopold to respect his coronation oath, 
 and select Hungarian counsellors. But the patriotic 
 Wesselenyi died before any thing could be effected, and 
 Peter Zrinyi then sought to employ the conspiracy for 
 personal objects. All the plans, however, were be- 
 trayed, and the chiefs of the conspiracy were put to 
 death without the forms of law, and their estates con- 
 fiscated. An attempt at insurrection by the Protest- 
 ants was equally unsuccessful. After its suppression 
 they were subjected to a severe persecution, which 
 caused them to flee in crowds to the Turks, who granted 
 them protection, and made incursions into Hungary 
 for their sake. 
 
38 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 In the Turkish war which began in 1683, Leopold, 
 aided by the great warrior John Sobieski, was success- 
 ful. Leopold now sought to attain his ends by legal 
 means. In 1687 he summoned a diet, the principal 
 task of which was to abrogate the right of armed re- 
 sistance in the clause of the Bulla Aurea, to abolish 
 the right of electing a king, and to settle the succes- 
 sion to the throne on the male line of the house of 
 Hapsburg, according to the law of primogeniture. The 
 diet accepted the royal propositions ; wmereupon Leo- 
 pold granted a full amnesty, from which Tokolyi was 
 alone excepted, and conceded the right to the mag- 
 nates of instituting the succession of primogeniture. 
 The Palatine Count Paul Eszterhazy, who contributed 
 greatly to these measures, was nominated prince, and 
 Joseph, the son of Leopold, was crowned as the first 
 hereditary king ; a reconciliation was re-established 
 between the court and the Hungarians. Nevertheless 
 this was not complete ; the religious grievances of the 
 Protestants increased daily, and Leopold would not 
 abandon his system of persecution against them. His 
 generals meanwhile gained new and brilliant victories ; 
 the Margrave of Baden advanced up to the limits of 
 Albania ; Transylvania, after the death of Apaffy, 
 yielded homage to Leopold, upon his promising to 
 maintain the constitution ; and Prince Eugene of Sa- 
 voy, the valiant hero and friend of the Hungarians, 
 annihilated at Zentha in 1697 the army of the grand 
 vizier. But in order to achieve this victory, he had 
 acted contrary to the command of the council of war 
 in Vienna, and he was therefore obliged to repair to 
 Vienna to justify himself. When called upon to de- 
 liver up his sword, lie did so with these words, "It is. 
 still red with the enemy's blood." But, however 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 39 
 
 pedantically Leopold adhered to forms, it was too re- 
 pugnant a measure, even to his prejudices, that the 
 greatest general of his time should be brought to ac- 
 count for a victory : he invested the prince anew with 
 the chief command. By the mediation of England and 
 Holland, the peace of Carlowicz was now concluded 
 with the sultan, in which the Turks renounced all 
 dominion in Hungary and Transylvania, and only re- 
 tained the so-named Banat. 
 
 The violations of law by the court party in Hungary 
 at length caused an insurrection, headed by Rakoczy, 
 grandson of the beheaded Peter Zrinyi. The insur- 
 gents were triumphant. Leopold was obliged to treat 
 for peace, and again he promised to respect the con- 
 stitution. He died in 1705. He had ruled forty-eight 
 years, and yet failed to attain his object — the destruc- 
 tion of the Hungarian constitution. 
 
 Joseph L, the son and successor of Leopold, was a 
 noble and generous prince. He endeavoured to con- 
 ciliate the Hungarians. But Rakoczy considered him- 
 self as the representative of his free countrymen, and 
 demanded such guarantees for their liberties as could 
 not be at any time violated. The war continued 
 until 1711, when the adherents of Rakoczy accepted 
 Joseph's terms, and a treaty of peace was concluded. 
 Rakoczy himself repaired to Turkey, where he lived in 
 the enjoyment of princely honour. He never confided 
 in the house of Hapsburg. Joseph I. died in 1711, be- 
 fore peace had been fully restored. 
 
 Under his successor, who reigned as Charles III. in 
 Hungary, and Charles VI. in Germany, some import- 
 ant changes were made in the Hungarian constitu- 
 tion. The changes were effected in the spirit of the 
 eighteenth century. In the first place, the rights 
 
40 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 ancL liberties of Hungary were ratified anew, and 
 boards were instituted in the place of the independent 
 dignitaries of state, who now presided over these 
 boards. The Hungarian board of chancery was es- 
 tablished in Vienna, since it was regarded as a fait 
 accompli that the monarch, in spite of all his promises, 
 should not reside in Hungary. In the country, the 
 Consilium Locumtenentiale Hungaricum was insti- 
 tuted, which was to carry on the government ; four 
 district courts in Hungary, and one in Croatia, were in 
 future to decide the most important civil causes ; the 
 royal table in Hungary, and the banal table in Croatia, 
 were appointed courts of appeal for civil and criminal 
 cases, which were invested with the power not only of 
 judging according to strict formal right, but also of 
 taking cognisance of matters in equity. But the most 
 important point was the introduction of a standing 
 army, and with this, naturally, of a new system of 
 taxation. The nobility refused direct taxation ; the 
 peasants had alone to bear the taxes, which could not 
 be raised high, and the court, to indemnify itself, 
 recruited its revenues by an oppressive system of im- 
 posts between Hungary and the Austrian provinces, 
 thereby stifling the industry of the former country. 
 The injustice of the nobles met with its reward ; from 
 this time the country was isolated, and naturally 
 remained behind in cultivation and industry. 
 
 In the year 1723, Charles attained in Hungary the 
 object of his efforts, the acceptance of the so-called 
 Pragmatic Sanction, or the recognition of the law of 
 female inheritance, first for his line, then for that of 
 his elder brother Joseph, and lastly for all the descend- 
 ants of Leopold I. The Hungarians accepted these 
 royal proposals without opposition, but at the same 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 41 
 
 time reasserted, of course, the rights and liberties of 
 Hungary. The crime of high-treason was now more 
 accurately defined, and an end was put by law to 
 arbitrary arrests upon suspicion of high-treason. On 
 this occasion, also, the permission was granted to the 
 untitled nobles to institute the succession of primo- 
 geniture ; but neither these nor the magnates, who had 
 possessed this right ever since the time of Leopold I., 
 made any frequent use of the privilege ; equal partition 
 was more adapted to the customs and usages of the no- 
 bles. While all these reforms were carried out in the 
 interior, Charles, in the year 1716, renewed the war 
 against the Turks. Prince Eugene, and his friend 
 John Palffy, defeated the latter at Peterwardein and 
 Temesvar, and in the following year at Belgrade ; he 
 took Servia and Wallachia Minor as far as the Aluta, 
 and sought to unite again the ancient dependencies of 
 the Hungarian kingdom with these. But the peace 
 of Passarovicz (Posarovacz) arrested his victorious 
 career. Charles was a dry, practical prince, who had 
 a horror of any grand projects ; he contented himself 
 with having completely driven the Turks out of Hun- 
 gary, and with possessing in Belgrade the key of Tur- 
 key. But he effected much in the way of internal 
 amelioration ; he constructed roads to the coast of 
 Hungary, repaired the harbour of Porto Re, and 
 granted to Fiume the privileges of a free port ; for, 
 at that period, it was not yet known that a free port, 
 where prohibitions exist, favours only smuggling, and 
 not commerce, and forms but a very weak corrective 
 for the prohibitive system. In the last few years of 
 the government of Charles a war broke out anew with 
 Turkey ; but Charles had not the courage to intrust 
 the command of the army to an Hungarian, although 
 
42 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 John Palffy was generally considered the best general 
 of the school of Prince Eugene. The incapacity of 
 the Generals Konigseck, Wallis, Suckow, and the 
 diplomatist Neiperg, lost all the advantages which the 
 sword of Eugene had won, and the peace of 1739 
 restored to the Turks Bosnia, Servia, with the im- 
 portant fortress of Belgrade, and Wallachia Minor. 
 
 Scarcely had Maria Theresa, the beautiful and 
 talented daughter of Charles, ascended the throne in 
 1740, than all the continental powers of Europe stood 
 forth against her, and contested her right of inherit- 
 ance in the German provinces. t The enthusiasm and 
 devotion of the Hungarians saved her throne. The 
 queen, with true womanly tact, took advantage of the 
 vanity of the nation by readily carrying out all their 
 wishes. She appointed Hungarians to the most im- 
 portant posts, she never neglected to mention with 
 gratitude the sacrifices and valour of the nation, and, 
 by manifesting confidence, she awakened a mutual con- 
 fidence; thus during her government of thirty years 
 she succeeded in those objects which the bloodthirsty 
 tyranny of her grandfather had been unable to effect. 
 The constitutional instincts of the Hungarians were 
 gradually lulled asleep ; Protestantism was weakened 
 by frequent conversions to the Romish Church, German 
 manners were introduced into Hungary, the high aris- 
 tocracy became fixedly attached to the court, and yet 
 all the while Maria Theresa remained the universally 
 loved and adored Queen of the Hungarians. Eor diets 
 she had no affection ; under her, the constitution of 
 the country was maintained outside the walls of the 
 diet. She ordered the decrees of the highest courts to 
 be collected and confirmed by a commission which con- 
 sisted of the members of the highest court ; and these 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 43 
 
 judgments had thenceforth the validity of law. Fur- 
 ther, when in 1764 the diet refused to introduce a bill 
 for the regulation of the relation of the peasant to the 
 land-owner, which should distinctly define his rights 
 and duties, she introduced, by an absolute decree, her 
 . " Urbarium" into Hungary, which, in spite of great 
 faults and defects, was yet very liberal for that period, 
 and contained many elements of progress ; indeed, on 
 this account, notwithstanding the illegal mode of its 
 introduction, it was repeatedly recognised provisionally 
 by subsequent diets. But Maria Theresa did not 
 again summon any diet, and the dignified office of the 
 Palatine, the guardian of the constitution, was not 
 again filled up ; yet, notwithstanding all this, the 
 nation retained their attachment to her. She was the 
 most statesmanlike sovereign of the house of Haps- 
 burg. 
 
 Her son and successor, the celebrated Emperor Jo- 
 seph II., the first ruler of the house of Lorraine, had 
 not these qualities. He was a perfect specimen of a 
 German philosopher, — imperious, intolerant of oppo- 
 sition, respecting no historical rights, boldly overturn- 
 ing the ancient order of things, but not possessing the 
 energy necessary to carry into effect his doctrinaire 
 schemes, and consequently spreading confusion and 
 disaffection throughout the land. He would have 
 been an ornament to any professor's chair, but for this 
 very reason he was not the man to occupy a throne. 
 Nevertheless, these very peculiarities gave him a great 
 name iimong the unpractical German men of letters ; 
 the^ extolled him, and admired his principles, without 
 considering how petty and pernicious were the results 
 of his government. As soon as Joseph, in 1770. 
 attained to power upon the death of his mother, he 
 
44 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 quitted the path of government which Maria Theresa 
 had so successfully pursued. He refused to be crowned 
 king in Hungary, or to recognise the constitution, and 
 he introduced a German administration into the coun- 
 try. All the county congregations, all the courts and 
 government colleges, protested against this contempt 
 of the fundamental compacts between the king and the 
 Hungarians, and reminded him of the promises, the 
 kingly oaths, and conditions of peace which his fore- 
 fathers had made and observed. But Joseph had no 
 inclination for historical rights ; his want of public 
 morality had already shown itself in the partition of 
 Poland. In vain, therefore, he proclaimed toleration, 
 in vain he studied to govern according to the principles 
 of the law of reason ; his ordinances were not re- 
 spected, because he had shaken the public rights to 
 their foundation ; the municipal authorities every- 
 where resisted him. To maintain his consistency, 
 Joseph thought himself compelled to abolish the mu- 
 nicipal institutions, and to introduce a system of cen- 
 tralization ; but he found no tools ready to forward 
 his aims : none of the upright patriots served him in 
 Hungary ; his officials were foreigners, or men of no 
 note or authority, and the administration was despised. 
 To this failure were added his reverses in the war with 
 Turkey, which he had commenced in the most incon- 
 siderate manner ; an armed insurrection had broken 
 out in Belgium, and one threatened likewise in Hun- 
 gary. Joseph, broken down in spirit and bodily 
 health, saw at length, after a government of ten 
 years, that all his efforts were vain. Upon his death- 
 bed he retracted all the ordinances which he had 
 issued, with the single exception of the Toleration 
 Act. When the news of his death, in 1790, was 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 45 
 
 spread abroad, bonfires and illuminations were kindled 
 from one end of the country to the other ; his officials 
 were compelled to fly, and his ordinances (even the 
 wisest, as, for instance, that relating to the measure- 
 ment of the land) were burned. 
 
 Joseph's brother, Leopold II., under whose wise ad- 
 ministration Tuscany had risen to a flourishing state, 
 succeeded the philosopher on the throne. The ideas 
 of the French Revolution had excited people's minds 
 throughout Europe, and were shaking thrones. But 
 Leopold, in this crisis, attached the Hungarians more 
 firmly than ever to his house. His first act of govern- 
 ment was to assemble the diet, to recognise the con- 
 stitution of Hungary, the freedom of the country, and 
 its independence of every other state or people, also 
 to assign the right of introducing, abrogating, and in- 
 terpreting the laws exclusively to the diet and the 
 assent of the king : the country was never to be go- 
 verned by imperial patents ; the king himself was not 
 allowed to interfere in the administration of justice, 
 nor in cases of high-treason to arraign the accused 
 before any other court than the royal table. Lastly, 
 the edict of toleration issued by Joseph, which was 
 indeed more limited than the peace of Vienna, of Ni- 
 kolsburg, and of Linz, which did not prevent Charles 
 and Maria Theresa from enforcing frequent encroach- 
 ments by the Romish Church, was made the law of the 
 land. Leopold was received and crowned in Hungary 
 with enthusiasm ; his son Alexander was elected Pala- 
 tine ; every thing augured a brilliant future, when he 
 suddenly died in 1792, probably by poison — the effect 
 of female jealousy. 
 
 Francis L, the son of Leopold, was a selfish, narrow- 
 minded, distrustful prince, an enemy of science and 
 
46 KO'SSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 knowledge, and so vulgar in his tastes that he would 
 not even learn to speak correct German. But his very 
 Viennese dialect, and his coarse sallies against educa- 
 tion, made him popular with the lower classes in Vienna. 
 In Hungary he could not gain the attachment which 
 had followed his father. At the very beginning of his 
 government, and after the mysterious death of his 
 brother, the popular Palatine Alexander, who lost his 
 life at an exhibition of fireworks in Luxemburg, nume- 
 rous arrests took place. The Abbot Martin ovics, Count 
 Sigray, Messrs. Laczkovics, Szent Mariay, and Haj- 
 noczy were executed for high-treason ; others were 
 sentenced to long imprisonment, and among them the 
 most distinguished authors, upon the allegation that 
 they had been implicated in a great conspiracy. The 
 sentences alone were made known ; the proceedings 
 against these conspirators were carried on with locked 
 doors, and regarded as state secrets. 
 
 As long as the French war lasted, Francis regularly 
 held diets in Hungary, which continually voted sub- 
 sidies of men and money ; but when the estates, in, 
 1807, raised their voice against the profligate adminis- 
 tration of the finances, and declared in favour of the 
 principles of free trade, — when they further, in 1812, 
 refused to sanction by their assent the state bankruptcy 
 of Austria, — they became troublesome to the Vienna, 
 ministry ; and after the formation of the holy alliance, 
 Francis sought, like his ancestors, to get rid of the 
 inconvenient Hungarian constitution. He had soon 
 forgotten the loyalty with which the Hungarians re- 
 mained faithful to his throne, and how, when Napoleon 
 in 1809 promised them separation from Austria and a 
 king for themselves, the Hungarians tore in pieces the 
 proclamation, and did not listen to the French. In 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 47 
 
 the first place, no more diets were summoned; the 
 regular elections in the counties were no longer per- 
 mitted ; the lord-lieutenants filled up the vacancies in 
 the municipal administration by provisional nomina- 
 tions. In 1816, a voluntary subsidy was demanded 
 from the nobles. The nobles in most of the county 
 congregations refused this ; but, notwithstanding, at 
 the close of the year 1822, when constitutionalism was 
 also attacked in Italy and Spain, the taxes were raised 
 without the consent of the diet, and a levy of recruits 
 was ordered. All the counties protested ; they saw 
 clearly that it was not a question of taxation, but one 
 of principle ; and as the right of granting taxes alone 
 constituted the guarantee of the constitution, this mea- 
 sure excited the bitterest indignation. Francis at first 
 endeavoured to execute his will by force of arms, but 
 his attempts were frustrated by the passive resistance 
 of the counties. He therefore again summoned the 
 diet in 1825, reconfirmed the constitution, and thence- 
 forth ruled with more careful respect for the legal 
 forms : yet he remained hostile to any reform ; in his 
 mind the words progress, education, and revolution 
 were completely synonymous. But the spirit of the 
 times will not admit of being resisted for any long 
 continuance : in 1832, a reform diet, the first for a 
 century, began to revise the single parts of the Hun- 
 garian constitution. The majority of the deputies were 
 liberal, but the majority of the magnates and the go- 
 vernment obstinately opposed any amelioration of the 
 condition of the peasants, and any change or reform 
 in the feudal institutions. Francis died during the 
 session of this diet, unlamented by his people, to whom 
 he bequeathed, as a remembrance of his government, 
 a considerable state-debt, notwithstanding that Austria 
 
48 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 had made three national bankruptcies under the Em- 
 peror Francis, which were especially ruinous to the 
 middle classes. 
 
 After 1835, the stubborn, narrow-minded Archduke 
 Louis, and the doctrinaire of absolutism, Prince Metter- 
 nich, governed in the name of the imbecile Ferdinand. 
 Louis believed that the art of ruling consisted in post- 
 poning the solution of every important question ; and 
 Metternich felt too well that he was not in a position 
 to govern strong nations ; his main object therefore 
 was to keep down and repress the national develop- 
 ment, or, where this was no longer possible, to incite 
 one people against another, favouring and persecuting 
 each party in turn, in order to destroy the strength of 
 the people by continual party struggles. 
 
 The third statesman who exercised an important 
 influence upon the government of Hungary was the 
 Palatine Archduke Joseph, a man of great cleverness, 
 a penetrating understanding, and with remarkable 
 power of dissimulation. He entertained a true love 
 for Hungary, which he looked upon as his native 
 country, and was the man of quiet progress, but not 
 possessed of the energy to make his counsels listened 
 to in Vienna. 
 
 The diet which assembled in 1832, and continued 
 its session uninterruptedly till 1836, fulfilled with dif- 
 ficulty its task of revising the Urbarium of Maria 
 Theresa, and determining the rights and duties of the 
 peasants. The court opposed all propositions relating 
 to a full emancipation of the peasant, and would not 
 consent to any attack upon the feudal institutions. 
 The chancellor, Count Reviczky, who was an ardent 
 friend to the Hungarian nationality, but only a half- 
 liberal in his principles, was replaced by the reaction- 
 
OUTLINE HISTORY OF HUNGARY. 49 
 
 ary Count Fidel Palffy, a man without talent, who did 
 not even understand Hungarian. He immediately 
 caused arrests to be made, and political lawsuits to be 
 instituted. B. Wesselenyi, Kossuth, Ujhazy, Balogh, 
 Madarasz, and Count Raday, were among the number 
 of the prosecuted. Those highest courts forgot their 
 position and dignity so far as to allow the violation of 
 the legal forms in reference to the defence ; when, 
 therefore, the sentence of Wesselenyi, Kossuth, and 
 some young men, found guilty of high-treason, was 
 published, the indignation of the whole country was 
 excited against the government and the highest courts. 
 Count Palffy, Count Cziraky, and Mr. Somssich, the 
 chancellor, and the presidents of the highest courts, 
 had not the courage to await the assembling of the 
 diet : they entered the German-Austrian state service. 
 Count Antony Mailath was made chancellor — pliant, 
 liberal, eloquent, and full of promises. His adminis- 
 tration lasted from 1839 until 1844, and was rendered 
 important by an amnesty in» Hungary, the introduc- 
 tion of the statute laws concerning bills of exchange, 
 and the recognition of religious equality. At this 
 time the differences between Croatia and Hungary 
 began to grow bitter : the Croatians wanted in future 
 to keep the Protestants out of their country ; and their 
 deputies, who in society constantly spoke Hungarian, 
 demanded never to speak any language but Latin in 
 the public sessions. Moreover they did not at that 
 time strive for the use of the Croatian language, but 
 for the maintenance of the Latin : it was the last 
 flicker of the conservatism favoured by the court, 
 which was naturally obliged very soon to yield to a 
 national movement. 
 
 Count Mailath was overthrown by intrigues : in his 
 
50 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 place succeeded Count Apponyi — young, proud, and 
 obstinate from want of experience, yielding to Metter- 
 nich, attached to centralization, and on that account 
 opposed to the Archduke Joseph, who defended the 
 municipal institutions of Hungary. The archduke 
 died after having been Palatine just fifty years ; his 
 son Stephen was appointed stadtholder in Hungary. 
 Enthusiastically received by the nation, he had the 
 best intentions and desire to reconcile the interests of 
 his native country with those of his family. In No- 
 vember, 1847, he was elected Palatine. In the diet, 
 the opposition in the House of Representatives, under 
 the leadership of Kossuth, obtained a majority : the 
 magnates were almost equally divided, but the greatest 
 share of talent was evidently on the side of the oppo- 
 sition, who were headed in the House of Magnates by 
 Count Louis Batthyanyi. A general reform of the 
 Hungarian constitution was in progress : the immunity 
 from taxation enjoyed by the nobles was abolished, 
 and the municipal institutions and representation of 
 the towns were in course of revision, when the news 
 arrived that the French revolution had broken out, 
 and France had become a republic. 
 
 This great event shook absolutism and feudalism to 
 their foundations, and led the masses of Europe to 
 dare to seize that power which belonged to them of 
 right. 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF METTERNICH. 51 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF METTERNICH KOSSUTH'S ADDRESS — RISINGS 
 
 IN YIENNA AND PESTH — FORMATION OF AN HUNGARIAN 
 MINISTRY. 
 
 At the commencement of the year 1848, Prince 
 Metternich and his friends were filled with apprehen- 
 sions of coming trouble. The progress of liberal 
 opinions was rapid and obvious. A liberal pontiff 
 occupied the chair of St. Peter, and by the reforms 
 which he introduced or sanctioned, gave a mighty 
 impulse to the forward movement. In Hungary, the 
 opposition, headed by the eloquent Louis Kossuth, 
 not only directed its complaints against burdens and 
 grievances, but boldly attacked the old system of 
 government under Metternich, and demanded a reor- 
 ganization of the entire administration, not for Hun- 
 gary alone, but for the whole monarchy. The fanciful 
 King of Prussia had granted the form of a constitu- 
 tion to his people, and appeared to be desirous of 
 heading a general movement of the liberals. In 
 Northern Italy, a disposition to throw off the Aus- 
 trian yoke was manifest. In Switzerland, the radical 
 party had triumphed, and in France the signs of the 
 approaching storm were visible. Metternich was em- 
 barrassed by the state of the finances in Austria, 
 brought about by mismanagement. It was well known 
 that the bank was in intimate connection with the 
 state, and made advances to it in case of financial 
 embarrassment. But the state of its affairs was un- 
 
52 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 known, and the people, mistrusting it, turned their notes 
 into silver. In Hungary and Bohemia these notes 
 were no longer taken. 
 
 Trade was stagnant, and without any assignable 
 cause. .These circumstances determined the conser- 
 vative deputies of the county of Raob, on the 4th of 
 March, to put a question in the Hungarian diet with 
 reference to the relations of the bank. The news of 
 the Paris revolution, which reached Pressburg on the 
 2d of March, had thrown every one into a state of 
 feverish excitement. On that occasion, Kossuth made 
 an eloquent speech, in which he boldly expressed 
 himself in reference to the relations existing between 
 Austria and Hungary, as follows: — 
 
 " Mighty thrones, supported by political sagacity and 
 power, have been overthrown, and nations have fought 
 for and won their liberty, who three months ago could 
 not have dreamt of the proximity of such an event. 
 But for three whole months we are compelled to roll 
 the stone of Sisyphus incessantly and without avail ; 
 and my mind, I confess, is clouded with almost the 
 grief of despair, at witnessing the languid progress 
 which the cause of my country has made. I see with 
 sorrow so much power, so true and noble a will toiling 
 at this ungrateful and unrequited task. Yes, honour- 
 able deputies, the curse of a stifling vapour weighs 
 upon us, — a pestilential air sweeps over our country 
 from the charnel-house of the Viennese council of 
 state, enervating our power, and exerting a deadening 
 effect upon our national spirit. But while hitherto 
 my anxiety has been caused by seeing the develop- 
 ment of the resources of Hungary checked by this 
 blighting influence, to the incalculable injury of my 
 country, — by seeing the constitutional progress of the 
 
53 
 
 nation unsecured, and that the antagonism which has 
 existed for three centuries between the absolutist go- 
 vernment of Vienna and the constitutional tendency 
 of the Hungarian nation has not up to this day been 
 reconciled, nor ever can be reconciled, without the 
 abandonment of either the one or the other, — my ap- 
 prehension at the present time is increased by other 
 causes, and a fear weighs upon my mind, lest this 
 bureaucratic system, this policy of fixedness, which 
 has grown to be part and parcel of the Viennese coun- 
 cil of state, should lead to a dissolution of the monar- 
 chy, compromise the existence of our dynasty, and 
 entail upon our country, which requires all her power 
 and resources for her own internal affairs, heavy sacri- 
 fices and interminable evils. 
 
 " Such is the view I take of present affairs, and 
 regarding them in this light, I deem it my urgent 
 duty to call upon this honourable assembly seriously 
 to direct its attention to the subject, and to devise 
 means of averting the danger which threatens our 
 country. We, to whom the nation has intrusted her 
 present protection and her future security, cannot and 
 dare not stand idly by and shut our eyes upon events 
 and their consequences, until our country is gradually 
 deluged by a flood of evil. To prevent the evil is the 
 task to which we are called ; and satisfied I am, that 
 if we neglect our duty, we shall be responsible for the 
 ill that may result from our neglect, in the sight of 
 God, before the world, and to our own consciences. 
 If, persisting in a perverse policy, we allow the oppor- 
 tunity for effecting a peaceable settlement to pass, and 
 neglect to niake the free and loyal sentiments of the 
 representatives of this nation heard, we may repent 
 it when the die has been irrevocably cast, when the 
 
54 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 embarrassment has proceeded so far as to leave us 
 only the choice between an unconditional refusal, or 
 sacrifices which no one can calculate ; but repentance 
 will then come too late, and the favourable moment, 
 which was allowed to pass in listless inaction, will be 
 gone for ever. As a deputy of this assembly, I for 
 one will have no share in this responsibility, although, 
 as a citizen of our country, I may be obliged to par- 
 ticipate in the consequences of a tardy repentance." 
 
 The bold orator then moved an « Address to his 
 majesty," setting forth what the country expected of 
 the government, and the abuses which the diet pro- 
 posed to reform. In that address, we find the follow- 
 ing passage, which goes to prove that the Hungarian 
 rebellion was not a movement for the assertion of the 
 power of an oligarchy, but for an extension of liberty 
 to the people : — 
 
 " One of the most important of our tasks is to alle- 
 viate the burdens of the peasantry in being called 
 upon to quarter and provide for the soldiery. It is 
 our belief that the political and administrative reform 
 of the municipalities of the towns and the districts 
 cannot longer be postponed, and we are likewise of 
 opinion that the time has arrived when a larger exten- 
 sion of political rights ought to be granted to the peo- 
 ple. The country has a right to expect measures to 
 be carried out for raising our industrial resources, our 
 commerce, and our agriculture. At the same time, 
 the spirit of our constitution requires free develop- 
 ment under a true representative system, and the in- . 
 tellectual interests of the nation likewise demand sup- 
 port based upon freedom. Our military institutions 
 require a thorough reform, corresponding to the cha- 
 racter of the nation, and the collective interests of the 
 
KOSSUTH'S ADDRESS. 55 
 
 different classes of its inhabitants, — a reform, the ur- 
 gency of which is pressed upon us both by a regard to 
 your majesty's throne and the safety of our country. 
 We cannot longer consent to a postponement of tho 
 constitutional application of the state revenues of 
 Hungary, and the rendering an exact account of the 
 revenue and expenditure ; for without this information 
 we can neither fulfil the duties which the constitution 
 imposes upon us, of maintaining the splendour of your 
 majesty's throne, nor meet the necessities of our 
 country." 
 
 The impression which Kossuth's speech produced 
 was overwhelming. Even the most determined par- 
 tisans of the government — men like Barbarczy and 
 Somssich — did not venture to come forward in its sup- 
 port. The address was carried unanimously. Every 
 man felt assured that Hungary was on the eve of 
 great events, and that this speech must be followed 
 either by a dissolution of the diet or the overthrow 
 of the Chancellor Apponyi and his system. In Vienna 
 the speech produced much excitement, and throughout 
 the provinces encouragement was given for petitions 
 for an extension of political rights. 
 
 The future policy of Austria was grave matter for 
 discussion in the imperial family. The emperor, a 
 good-natured, but imbecile monarch, had no voice in 
 the decision. The Archduke Francis Charles, who 
 was under the control of the Archduchess Sophia, and 
 Archduke Stephen, the Palatine of Hungary, who was 
 summoned from Pressburg to Vienna, were in favour 
 of concessions ; while Archduke Louis and Prince 
 Metternich advocated repression. In the opinion of the 
 latter, the diet at Pressburg ought to be dissolved, and 
 all assemblages of the people put down by military force. 
 
56 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 A great movement was resolved upon by the people 
 of Vienna. The burghers were to go in a body to the 
 House of Representatives, and state their demand to 
 the committee of deputies assembled there, for the 
 freedom of the press, religious liberty, freedom of 
 education, trial by jury, and a constitutional govern- 
 ment. The students of the university were to head 
 the procession, and to speak for the rest. These 
 arrangements were no secret ; Metternich knew them 
 as well as any of the students. In an evening party, 
 the prince was asked what truth there was in the 
 general rumour of an expected revolution on the 18th. 
 The prince quietly replied, " You are wrongly in- 
 formed, — it is to take place on the 13th. "" On the 
 evening of the 12th, a lady asked Metternich whether 
 there was no danger to be apprehended on the morrow. 
 Metternich replied that there would probably be great 
 crowds of people, but that all necessary measures had 
 been taken to render any danger impossible. 
 
 On the 12th, the students sent their petition to the 
 committee of representatives. On the 13th, they 
 repaired in a body from the university go the house of 
 assembly, followed by the burghers, men, women, and 
 children, all dressed in their Sunday clothes, as if 
 going to a festival. While awaiting the formal reply 
 of the committee in front of the house of assembly, 
 several of the students addressed the people in the 
 Herrngasse. Count Montecuculi — the same man who 
 afterward, as minister without a portfolio, had the task 
 of pacifying Italy — appeared at a window, and exhorted 
 the multitude to maintain peace. 
 
 The students now sent a deputation from their body 
 to the assembly, to express the wishes of the people. 
 They were admitted. The people waited for half an 
 
RISING IN VIENNA. 57 
 
 hour, during which time Kossuth's speech was read 
 aloud by one of the students amid loud acclamations. 
 On a sudden, the rumour spread, " The deputation 
 are detained prisoners !" The multitude immediately 
 rushed upon the house of assembly, the doors were 
 burst open, the furniture and seats were shivered to 
 atoms. The soldiers on guard there, for the mainte- 
 nance of order, fired upon the people, by command of 
 the Archduke Albrecht; some persons were killed, 
 others wounded. But the citizens did not disperse, — 
 the firing only heightened their enthusiasm. A wounded 
 man was lifted upon a horse, and led bleeding through 
 the streets of Vienna. The shops were closed, and 
 the whole city streamed forth in the direction of the 
 Burg. Here cannon were posted; the cannoneers 
 stood beside their guns with lighted fusees. One of 
 the archdukes, who was present in undress, on seeing 
 the immense press of people, gave the command to 
 fire ; but the cannoneer, who did not recognise the 
 archduke, and, according to the regulations, could 
 only receive orders from the officer next above him, 
 naturally refused to obey. This was decisive for the 
 court. 
 
 At the commencement of the tumult, the deputation 
 of the diet had gone to the court, and petitioned for a 
 constitution ; later, a second deputation appeared, sent 
 by the civic militia, a body on whom the government 
 placed implicit reliance, as it consisted principally of 
 the shopkeepers and merchants of the inner city. On 
 a sudden came the news that the troops refused to 
 obey orders ! The court, in consternation and alarm, 
 yielded, and promised freedom of the press and a con- 
 stitution. Only a quarter of an hour before, it had 
 been resolved to place Vienna in a state of siege, and 
 
58 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 intrust the command to Prince Windischgratz : the 
 proclamation had already been sent to the government 
 printing-office, with orders to be placarded at the 
 corners of the streets ; it was now withdrawn. The 
 same panic which had seized on the French court on 
 the 24th of February, palsied the resolution of the 
 court in Vienna on the 13th of March. One of the 
 deputation demanded the dismissal of Metternich, and 
 this too was granted. The prince immediately gave 
 in his resignation, admitting that his powers were 
 inadequate to the crisis. In anxiety to save his life, 
 which was never threatened, he instantly fled, and did 
 not feel secure until he set foot on the soil of England. 
 
 The most unbounded rejoicings followed when the 
 decision of the court was made publicly known ; the 
 city was illuminated, the picture of the emperor borne 
 about in triumph ; an intoxication of delight seized on 
 the people, — they embraced one another in the streets ; 
 there was not a thought of revenge, — the victory of 
 the middle classes had been cheaply won, and the 
 blood that had been shed was forgotten. 
 
 But while the inhabitants of the inner city were 
 giving themselves up to an intoxication of delight at 
 the grant of a constitution, scenes occurred in the 
 fauxbourgs which showed that there was another class 
 in Vienna who were not to be satisfied with the pro- 
 mise of one. Freedom of the press and education, a 
 constitution, and trial by jury, were matters of which 
 they understood nothing. Trained in ignorance under 
 the system of Metternich, their wants and wishes now 
 turned in another direction, and petitions were not 
 the means by which they sought their accomplishment. 
 This class of men were the workmen in the manufacto- 
 ries, who, on hearing that their masters in the city 
 
EXCITEMENT AT PESTH. 59 
 
 were endeavouring to obtain freedom, set to work in 
 a more summary way, and themselves took the free- 
 dom they required without asking for it ; the first and 
 foremost sacrifice to their fury was the bars at which 
 the tolls were taken ; these were destroyed, the toll- 
 houses burnt, and the collectors knocked down or mur- 
 dered. The workmen then attacked and pulled down 
 some of the manufactories, destroying the machinery, 
 which, as they fancied, superseded their hand-labour 
 and was the cause of their low wages. These mad 
 acts of wanton violence and barbarity were a sign of 
 warning amid the general rejoicing. They exposed 
 to view the neglected moral condition of the people, 
 who, destitute of education, were easily hurried into 
 the commission of crime, when the authority of the 
 law was undermined and disregarded. 
 
 Kossuth's speech received in Pesth the same enthu- 
 siastic echo as in Vienna. The young men in Pesth 
 were carried away more forcibly by the ideas of time. 
 The Opposition Club resolved that a general assembly 
 of the people should be held on the 12th of March, to 
 embody in petition their wishes. Paul Nyary, how- 
 ever, the high sheriff of the county of Pesth, and Ga- 
 briel Klauzal, one of the most eloquent members of 
 the opposition in the diet, who had not been returned 
 in the last election of deputies for his county, hap- 
 pened to be at this time in Pesth. They considered 
 it unadvisable to embarrass the diet, in its present 
 difficult position, with petitions from large public meet- 
 ings ; their eloquence and influence prevailed, and 
 these petitions were dropped. The young men had 
 drawn up the following circular : — 
 
 " The whole of Europe is in movement. The times 
 have made a sudden advance of half a century. Europe 
 
60 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 is convulsed by one great idea, a conviction that the 
 present state of things cannot continue. The circum- 
 stances of the times do not admit of protracted deli- 
 beration or the postponement of negotiations. The 
 ideas are ripe, and the necessities of the time require 
 their realization. The present moments are precious 
 to Hungary ; matters which at another time might be 
 left to gradual development, must now become law with- 
 out delay. Arms are not sufficient to meet the dan- 
 gers which threaten the monarchy ; the only effectual 
 means are the further recognition of constitutional 
 principles, and the introduction of these among all the 
 people with whom we are allied by the Pragmatic Sanc- 
 tion. The nation is no longer satisfied with single 
 concessions ; it cannot wait for a tardy development. 
 We must declare the wants of the Hungarian nation : 
 it requires — 
 
 1. Freedom of the press, and the abolition of the 
 censorship. 
 
 2. A responsible ministry in Pesth. 
 
 3. An annual assembly of the diet in Pesth. 
 
 4. Equality before the law in all civil and religious 
 matters. 
 
 5. A national guard. 
 
 6. Equality of taxation. 
 
 7. Abolition of the Robot system. 
 
 8. Trial by jury. 
 
 9. A national bank. 
 
 10. The army to be sworn to the constitution : the 
 Hungarian soldiers not to be sent abroad, nor foreign 
 soldiers brought into Hungary. 
 
 11. All state prisoners for political offences to be 
 set at liberty. 
 
 12. Transylvania to be united with Hungary. 
 
EXCITEMENT AT PESTH. 61 
 
 " We are convinced," concluded the circular, " that in 
 these demands we express the wishes of all the friends 
 of the constitution, the country, and the dynasty. 
 We are ready to do all in our power to carry out 
 these measures, and we urge upon you to forward as 
 much as possible their realization in the diet, to the 
 advantage and glory of our country." 
 
 Klauzal and Nyary prevented the publication of this 
 circular, showing that it was inadequate to the require- 
 ments of the present times. On the 14th of March, the 
 proposition was a second time brought forward in the 
 Opposition Club ; but the majority resolved that the 
 petition should be sent to the members of the oppo- 
 sition in the diet, and that measures should be organ- 
 ized to support these demands. 
 
 Scarcely, however, had the members of the club 
 separated, than a movement of another kind com- 
 menced on the banks of the Danube. The steamboat 
 had arrived from Vienna, bringing the news of the 
 revolution which had broken out in that city, and of 
 the concessions which had been granted to the Vien- 
 nese ; it was reported that a constitution had been 
 given to the Austrians, and that the censorship of the 
 press no longer existed in Vienna. This news spread 
 electrically ; the young men all considered it a point 
 of honour not to remain behind the Viennese. Klauzal 
 and Nyary had indeed persuaded, but not convinced 
 them, that respect for the law was the best guarantee 
 of success : on every side was heard the cry, " The 
 opportunity must not escape — we must not be stopped 
 by points of form." 
 
 The following morning all the leaders of the young 
 men met, joined by the students of the university; 
 
62 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 they went down the Herrngasse and up the Hatvan- 
 street in a long procession, the people following ; the 
 crowd increased like an avalanche, until at eleven 
 o'clock they stopped in front of Landerer's printing- 
 office. 
 
 Here they demanded that the petition embodying the 
 twelve points of reform, and an improvised poem by 
 Petoffy, a poet who had put himself at the head of 
 these youths, should be printed without the " Impri- 
 matur" of the censor of the press. The cunning 
 printer retained his presence of mind ; he sought to 
 secure his own safety, happen what might, and said, 
 « If you compel me, I must do it, but not else ; the 
 penalty for printing any thing which has not passed 
 the censorship is the loss of my printing-license." 
 PetofFy and the young men merely asked in what way 
 the compulsion should be administered. Landerer 
 thought that by laying hands on the presses, this 
 symbolic act of compulsion would be sufficient. The 
 document was printed. 
 
 At this moment Klauzal and Nyary made their 
 appearance. Afraid lest a breach of the peace should 
 lead to a collision with the military, they hastened to 
 the spot where the multitude were collected, and pre- 
 vailed upon the people by the power of their eloquence 
 to take no hasty or illegal steps, but deliver the 
 petition, which had been printed, to the common coun- 
 cil, with a request that it should be transmitted to the 
 home office, as the legal jurisdiction ; by this means 
 the object of the people would be attained, and the 
 legal forms observed. The procession now moved on 
 to the town-hall, and on its way Petoffy's verse3 were 
 recited aloud. 
 
RISING IN PESTH. 63 
 
 Arise, Hungarians ! hear your country's call ! 
 
 The hour is come, — the hour to do or die. 
 Freemen to stand, or freemen still to fall — 
 
 Say, will you fight for Hungary's liberty ? 
 By the great God of Hungary we swear, 
 The yoke of slaves we will no longer wear ! 
 
 Our fathers' prayer for freedom was denied, 
 
 Hopeless they bore the base reproach of slaves; 
 
 For freedom lived they, and for freedom died, — 
 Their memory calls for freedom from their graves. 
 
 By the great God of Hungary we swear, 
 
 The yoke of slaves we will no longer bear ! 
 
 Gleams not the sword more brightly than the chain, 
 
 A nobler ornament to deck the hand ? 
 We've borne our shame — shall Freedom call in vain 
 
 To unsheathe the sword, and save our fatherland! 
 By the great God of Hungary we swear, 
 ■ The yoke of slaves we will no longer bear ! 
 
 Again shall Hungary claim her ancient fame, 
 Once more arise a nation proud and free — 
 
 Blot out her shame, and vindicate her name, 
 Land of the free — the home of Liberty ! 
 
 By the great God of Hungary we swear, 
 
 The yoke of slaves we will no longer bear ! 
 
 Upon our graves shall dawn a brighter sun, 
 Our children rise to bless their natal earth ; 
 
 Here shall they kneel, and, when our course is run, 
 Bless the fair land that gave them a free birth. 
 
 By the great God of Hungary we swear, 
 
 The yoke of slaves we will no longer bear ! 
 
 Every time the chorus of the song was repeated, 
 ten thousand hands were uplifted, and as many voices 
 echoed the oath. Notwithstanding the pouring rain, 
 the people's enthusiasm was at its height ; neverthe- 
 less no disorder prevailed, not an unbecoming word was 
 spoken, no one bore any kind of arms ; it was evident 
 
64 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 that this demonstration proceeded from no street mob, 
 but from the educated classes of the people. 
 
 At three o'clock in the afternoon the common council 
 and the electors received the petition ; they all sub- 
 scribed it, appointed a committee of fourteen principal 
 citizens to preserve peace and order in a time of such 
 excitement, and sent a deputation to the home office 
 at Buda to demand the abolition of the censorship 
 (which had never been legally established) in the same 
 manner, by proclamation, in which it had been intro- 
 duced; to demand further, that the state prisoner, 
 Michael Stancsics, who was in confinement out of the 
 country on account of the publication of a book, 
 should be set at liberty ; and to require an assurance 
 that the troops should be restrained from interfering 
 unless at the invitation of the civil authorities. 
 
 The deputation, headed by the Vice-burgomaster 
 Rottenbiller, the High-sheriff Nyary, and Klauzal, 
 crossed the bridge of boats to Buda, followed by the 
 whole population of Pesth, who, as the rain continued 
 to pour in torrents, all put up umbrellas. In the 
 fortress on the hill above, the members of the home 
 office were holding their sitting in the hall of as- 
 sembly ; they were not aware of what was going on in 
 Pesth, when suddenly some one pointed out to them 
 the shore of the Danube and the bridge of boats co- 
 vered with umbrellas ; no one, however, knew what was 
 under these umbrellas. The council were no heroes ; 
 they awaited their fate in fear and trembling. At 
 last, Nyary, Rottenbiller, Klauzal, and several other 
 members of the deputation appeared in the hall, while 
 the multitude could hardly find room in the fortress 
 of Buda. 
 
 The fears of the council were soon quieted by the 
 
PESTH UMBRELLA REVOLUTION. 65 
 
 peaceable appearance of the people, and they expressed 
 their readiness to do all that was required of them. 
 In order that the forms should in no degree be vio- 
 lated, the president of the council, by the advice of 
 Nyary and Klauzal, declared the censorship abolished ; 
 but a law.for the press had at the same time to be pro- 
 visionally issued, in order to guard against the occur- 
 rence of any acts of unbridled lawlessness. Nyary 
 and Klauzal immediately drew up such a project of 
 law, and within the same quarter of an hour in which 
 the censorship was abolished, the provisional law for 
 the press was also published. With regard to Stanc- 
 sics, it was declared, on the ground that he was con- 
 fined in a military prison contrary to law, that he 
 should be immediately liberated. An assurance was 
 also given, that the troops should never be employed 
 unless at the call of the civil authorities. The demands 
 of the people were fulfilled. Evening had closed in 
 before the negotiations with the home office were con- 
 cluded; the rain had ceased, and with singing and ac- 
 clamation the multitude returned by torchlight to 
 Pesth. A splendid illumination of the city concluded 
 the day. 
 
 All were content with the result, excepting only a 
 few young men, who coveted the glory of heading a 
 revolution; instead of which, in consequence of the 
 intervention of Nyary and Klauzal, no illegal step of 
 any kind had been set, and even the forms of law were 
 strictly respected. But these youths were far more 
 dissatisfied, when, three days afterward, they learned 
 that the diet in Pressburg had, before hearing of the 
 movement at Pesth, already obtained a responsible 
 ministry. The Pesth " Umbrella Revolution," as it 
 
66 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 was called, was now thrown into the background, and 
 passed unnoticed in Pressburg. 
 
 On the 18th of March, Count Louis Batthyanyi 
 was intrusted with the formation of an Hungarian 
 ministry ; and on the 18th of April, the ministry and 
 the archduke returned from Vienna to Pressburg. 
 During this time of intense excitement, law and order 
 were not dethroned. On the 19th of March, the de- 
 putation from Pesth appeared at the bar of the house 
 at Pressburg, and Paul Hajnik presented the petition 
 in a neat and dignified speech. Kossuth replied to 
 the petitioners : — 
 
 « At this moment, if ever, I would that Grod had 
 gifted me with a voice that might answer to my joy — 
 [Kossuth was suffering at the time from hoarseness] — 
 and give utterance to my rapture, at the tidings I have 
 just received, — the news that Austria possesses a re- 
 sponsible ministry. Our friends and kindred in Pesth 
 and Buda may moreover rest assured, that we are at 
 this very time engaged on objects corresponding to 
 the demands of this petition, several points in which, 
 — such as the equalization of taxation, the abolition 
 of the system of Robot, — have already been decided, 
 while on other points the preliminary steps have been 
 instituted. The petition is therefore handed to the 
 petition-committee, who will express their opinion 
 upon its contents." 
 
 Kossuth further remarked, that he had been in- 
 formed, that the people of Pesth and Buda anxiously 
 desired that the diet should as speedily as possible re- 
 turn to Pesth, the heart of the country : — "Assuredly 
 this would afford the highest satisfaction to the diet. 
 But the honourable estates have declared that, amidst 
 such grave circumstances, the present session could 
 
REMARKS OF KOSSUTH. 67 
 
 not extend their attention to the details of every ques- 
 tion of reform ; and that the session, as soon as the 
 most important questions are decided, must be closed, 
 in order to give place to the representatives of the 
 whole nation. The existence of this diet can therefore 
 naturally be prolonged only a few days. The diet is 
 fully impressed with the importance of the session, 
 and they hold sittings from early in the morning till 
 late at night, in order to bring to a conclusion all 
 affairs of importance. Under such circumstances the 
 diet cannot occupy the short time that remains in 
 removing its place of assembly, which would require 
 as much time as the whole business they have to 
 transact demands. The representatives of the people 
 will, however, soon assemble in Pesth. But now that 
 the functions of this diet are limited, it naturally fol- 
 lows that it cannot enter into any points of detail re- 
 specting the legislative code. In reference, however, 
 to the petition of the university, an assurance of reform 
 lies in the fact of Hungary possessing for the future 
 an independent ministry of education. The minister 
 will prepare the necessary projects of law, and lay 
 them before the next ensuing diet." 
 
 Count Szechenyi, who presided at this sitting, ex- 
 horted the deputation to harmony. The Pesth citi- 
 zens went away amidst loud eljens. The newspapers 
 spread the report of these remarkable scenes over the 
 whole country, and a belief everywhere prevailed that 
 the diet had declared against all violent measures, and 
 was strong enough at the same time to carry out its 
 determinations. 
 
 The Hungarian ministry consisted of the following 
 distinguished personages : — 
 
 Count Louis Batthyanyi, President of the Ministry. 
 
68 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Since the diet before the last he had been the leader 
 of the opposition in the table of magnates, and in close 
 intimacy with Kossuth on all occasions when a ques- 
 tion arose of inserting any additional guarantees of 
 the rights of man into the ancient constitution. 
 
 Prince Paul Esterhazy, a man who for a long series 
 of years had represented the Austrian government at 
 the court of St. James ; celebrated for his colossal 
 wealth, the elegance of his manners, and his connec- 
 tion with the first nobles of the monarchy, — less so for 
 his diplomatic talents and attachment to Hungary, for 
 which country he now for the first time manifested an 
 active interest. He was the representative of Hungary 
 at the court of the king, and only in this character 
 could he be regarded as Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 Bertalan Szemere filled the station of Home Minis- 
 ter. With a natural persevering boldness and patriot- 
 ism, he remained at his difficult post after most of his 
 earlier colleagues, trembling at the extreme conse- 
 quences of the revolution, had drawn back. As an 
 Hungarian, high-minded and self-sacrificing — as a 
 speaker, enjoying a great reputation ; but still more 
 remarkable for his learning and acquirements ; his 
 political spirit, however, did not stretch beyond the 
 horizon of his native country. 
 
 Erancis Deak and Joseph Eotvos, Ministers of Jus- 
 tice and Public Instruction, both well known from 
 former sessions of the diet, honoured and idolized : 
 poets and preachers of general peace and happiness, 
 endowed with a noble nature, and embracing in their 
 hearts a love for the whole world, with its joys and 
 sorrows, — apostles of morality and freedom, and ready 
 to have purchased these blessings for mankind at large 
 with their own hearts' blood. They were also excellent 
 
HUNGARIAN MINISTRY. 69 
 
 parliamentary speakers, deep thinkers, and men of 
 considerable influence, but not formed to throw them- 
 selves into the present struggle for the realization of 
 their own ideals. 
 
 Louis Kossuth — Minister of Finance. 
 
 Lazarus Meszaros, Minister of War, — a thorough- 
 going Magyar, conscientious, diligent, possessing no 
 strategical genius, but a certain talent for organizing, 
 which, combined with his natural activity, rendered 
 valuable services to his country. 
 
 Gabriel Klauzal, Minister of Trade, — a sharp dia- 
 lectician and clear thinker ; as a speaker full of feeling, 
 at times bordering on sentimentality. An Hungarian 
 liberal. 
 
 Count Stephen Szechenyi, Minister of Agriculture 
 and Communication ; a man of genuine philanthropy, 
 deeply versed in many branches of knowledge, of 
 liberal views, with an aristocratical background, and 
 indefatigable activity even amidst party animosities. 
 Of unlimited self-devotion, enthusiastic patriotism, 
 — loving his country above every other object, unto 
 death, nay even to the night of madness, which as- 
 signed to him a cell next that of the unhappy Lenau. 
 With the exception of Prince Esterhazy, whose appoint- 
 ment must be regarded as a concession to the nobility 
 and court, the members of the first Hungarian minis- 
 try were mentioned everywhere and with honour by 
 the people. Kossuth was right when he said that 
 Hungary had not to seek her statesmen at hazard 
 among the masses. 
 
70 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SERBIAN ATROCITIES — ASSEMBLY OF KARLOWICZ JELLACHICH AND 
 
 THE COURT DEMANDS OF THE CROATS — PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
 
 DIET AT PESTH — DEPUTATION TO THE EMPEROR. 
 
 The Hungarian war may be considered as spring- 
 ing from the sanguinary scenes of the Backsa and the 
 Serbian assembly at Karlowicz. The most obstinate 
 struggles of that period took place in the Banat and 
 on the Roman intrenchments. The Roman intrench- 
 ments of such ancient origin are situated in the county 
 of Bacs, or Backsa, which, with the Tschaikist dis- 
 trict, lies between the Danube and the Theiss, and 
 stretch in a line many miles. They have been strength- 
 ened in every part by modern fortification. Isolated 
 scenes of murder perpetrated by the Serbs against 
 the Magyars and Germans who inhabit that district 
 led the way to a series of sanguinary atrocities, almost 
 without parallel. The commencement of hostilities is 
 due to the Sclavo-Wallachian race. Old, long-restrained 
 hate, combined with an innate thirst for blood, marked 
 the rising of the South-Sclavish races from the first 
 as one of the bloodiest character, in which murder 
 was both means and end. The Serbs delighted in 
 torturing their victims, and displayed a knowledge of 
 the fiendish means truly astounding. The Magyars 
 and Germans retaliated with equal ferocity, stung by 
 the desire for revenge. All was blood, horror, and 
 desolation. 
 
 The assembly at Karlowicz, under the presidency 
 
ASSEMBLY AT KARLOWICZ. 71 
 
 of the Patriarch Rajacic, first gave to the isolated 
 pillaging incursions of the Serbs the character of a 
 political rising. This popular assembly immediately 
 assumed the importance of a national diet, and laid 
 its demands before the Emperor of Austria. These 
 were refused, and met with no support at court, be- 
 cause the court party did not at that time anticipate 
 from this quarter any support against the power of the 
 Magyars. It was not until the other South-Sclavish 
 races protested sword in hand against the new Hun- 
 garian ministry, that a ray of favour fell upon the 
 Patriarch Rajacic. Thenceforth the "rebels," and 
 their long, bloody knives, were regarded as tools not 
 wholly to be despised. 
 
 The policy of the Vienna cabinet toward the Ma- 
 gyars, artfully veiled by the proclamation of high- 
 treason against the Croat agitator, and by the re- 
 peated declarations of neutrality made by the war 
 minister, Count Latour, in the diet at Vienna, is now 
 clearly exposed to the world. The principles which 
 it followed may be summed up in a few words: osten- 
 sible friendship toward the Magyars, secret support 
 of the South-Sclaves — official denial of any participa- 
 tion in the South-Sclavish rising, secret subsidies to Jel- 
 lachich — apparent attempts at mediation, and at the 
 same time active agitation to render any conciliation 
 impossible. 
 
 As long as Jellachich felt assured that his proceed- 
 ings were received at Inspruck with secret satisfac- 
 tion, the conferences of the Archduke John and Count 
 Batthyanyi were of course unsuccessful. The arch- 
 duke was perhaps himself deceived, — Batthyanyi was 
 certainly deceived ; and that Jellachich was at the 
 same time deceived, he may at the present day acknow- 
 
72 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 ledge to himself with bitter mortification, if the remem- 
 brance of his original schemes has not been entirely 
 effaced from his mind by court favour. 
 
 Jellachich's first appearance was such as to com- 
 mand respect. In Croatia there was no pillage, but 
 there was equipment ; there was no murdering — there 
 was arming. The ban roused his fellow-countrymen 
 to the war against the Hungarians, with the same 
 irresistible eloquence as that which subsequently ena- 
 bled Kossuth to perform such incredible exploits ; he 
 took the field for the independence of his nation with 
 great talents for agitation and inflammatory enthusi- 
 asm. He entered the arena of the revolution with 
 raised visor, in a spirit of self-reliance, of confidence 
 in the power of his race, and — their right to revolt. 
 
 The question naturally arose, why the Croats should 
 not enjoy privileges which the Hungarians had ob- 
 tained without a struggle, and which the Italians on 
 the field of battle and the Germans in their parlia- 
 ment were striving to acquire ? No one who does not 
 condemn all revolutions as indefensible can consider 
 the Croat insurrection less justifiable than those in 
 Italy and Poland. In fact, at its commencement Jel- 
 lachich met with considerable sympathy both in and 
 out of Austria, notwithstanding that Sclavism had 
 never enjoyed any great favour in Europe. 
 
 It excited the wonder no less of his friends than 
 his enemies, that on the 19th of June Jellachich ven- 
 tured to make his appearance before the court, despite 
 the warning of his Agram friends, that he had rather 
 to expect a dungeon in Kufstein than a favourable 
 reception at Inspruck. It appeared unaccountable 
 that he should venture to confront his judges, accom- 
 panied by a few faithful followers, and that a man 
 
DEMANDS OP THE CROATS. 73 
 
 declared guilty of high-treason could appear at court 
 with more safety than his accusers. 
 
 As soon, however, as the truth began to peep out, 
 that the Austrian cabinet, which had never sided with 
 the cause of popular freedom, was actually in alliance 
 with Jellachich, he was at once looked upon as the 
 conscious or unconscious tool of a higher purpose — 
 an object either of pity or contempt. The policy of 
 the ministry was suspected of an inclination to Sclav- 
 ism, and the Croat rising began to be regarded with all 
 the odium attaching to a specifically dynastic movement. 
 
 The instinct of the people at large detected the 
 truth more readily than the moderate party in the 
 Viennese chamber, which, partly siding with the Cze- 
 chish right, supported the Wessenberg ministry. Ne- 
 vertheless, the court did not as yet deem it advisable 
 openly to declare its schemes against the Hungarians. 
 They feared the public feeling in Vienna, distrusted 
 the power of the South-Sclaves, and had enough to 
 occupy their attention in Italy. 
 
 Hence it was that the Croat deputies were never 
 received in that capacity by the Emperor Ferdinand. 
 They had an audience as private individuals, and in 
 the petition which they presented the following points 
 are the most important : — 
 
 1. The creation of a government under the presi- 
 dency of the ban, separate and responsible, with the 
 exception of matters relating to finance and war, 
 which should be reserved to the ministry at Vienna. 
 
 2. The subjection of the military frontier to this 
 government. Appointment of the Sclavish tongue 
 as the official language. 
 
 3. The de facto union of Dalmatia with Sclavonia 
 and Croatia. 
 
74 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 4. The appointment of all judicial and administra- 
 tive officers by the ban. 
 
 The emperor's reply, which he read upon the spot 
 to the Croat deputies, was as follows : — " Declaring 
 as I do the public assembly of the 5th of June, con- 
 vened without my consent, to be invalid, I cannot 
 receive you as deputies. I must at the same time 
 express my displeasure at your efforts directed against 
 my Hungarian crown, to which Croatia has belonged 
 for eight centuries. I am firmly resolved to maintain 
 this bond indissoluble, and I am the more desirous 
 that a good understanding should prevail in these 
 countries, as the valour of my subjects of the frontier 
 deserves my full acknowledgment. My uncle, the 
 Archduke John, has undertaken the mediation. You 
 will prove your fidelity by contributing as much as 
 possible to the establishment of such a good under- 
 standing." 
 
 This petition and the king's reply were communi- 
 cated to the Hungarian ministry by Prince Esterhazy. 
 The prince had several conferences with Jellachich. 
 The ministry at Pesth declared that they desired 
 nothing more than a peaceful settlement of affairs, 
 and that the Croats had only to come forward in a 
 constitutional manner in the national assembly, where 
 they enjoyed equal rights, and all their reasonable 
 desires would be satisfied. 
 
 But how could such proposals obtain a hearing, 
 while Jellachich was at the same time secretly receiv- 
 ing the promise of Austrian support — a promise which 
 led him to expect an easier attainment of his purposes 
 than in the Hungarian diet, where at most he could 
 obtain only partial concessions from the majority of 
 the Magyars ? 
 
HUNGARIAN COMMANDERS. 75 
 
 The commanders of the Austrian troops, who were 
 stationed in the Serbian theatre of war, witnessed 
 the barbarous proceedings for the most part passively ; 
 they had no instructions from the "Vienna minister of 
 war, and on the other hand could not decide how far 
 they were responsible to the orders of the Hungarian 
 government. 
 
 Wherever Hungarian commanders were at the head 
 of Austrian troops, a check was put as much as possi- 
 ble to these disorders ; but for many years past the 
 Austrian regiments have been distributed in such a 
 manner, that the smallest number of troops were 
 employed within the limits of their native country. 
 
 Colonel Kiss, the richest landed proprietor in the 
 Banat, performed miracles of valour in the course of 
 the summer of 1848 with a few squadrons of hussars. 
 He fought on his own soil; he spared not his own 
 villages and castles, whenever required to drive the 
 enemy from any strong position, and himself gave up 
 many of his finest estates a prey to the flames to 
 achieve this object. 
 
 Colonel Blomberg and Major Count Esterhazy 
 fought in the environs of Temesvar with alternate 
 success. Sztanimirowics, who had been appointed by 
 Rajacic political head-commissioner of the whole Wal- 
 lacho-Illyrian frontier, fell into their hands, and 
 perished on the gallows. Koics, the commander of 
 the Serbs, lost a battle and his life at Werschetz. 
 General Bechtold fought at Foldvar and on the 
 Roman intrenchments, and kept in check the greatly 
 superior forces of the enemy. Julius Blaskovics, the 
 Vice-gespann of the Hevesch county, led three thou- 
 sand national guards to battle, which were joined by 
 the guards from Lugos and Bogsan ; and they fought 
 
76 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 together with the regular troops on the Francis Canal, 
 until at last, from insubordination on the side of the 
 guards, the latter fell out with the soldiery. In the 
 battle at Werschetz, a place strongly fortified and 
 commanding a most advantageous position, the artillery 
 of the Arad national guards distinguished itself so 
 nobly, that the Austrian officers were struck with 
 admiration of its bravery and exploits. But the 
 enemy held the strongest positions ; they had ammuni- 
 tion and artillery in abundance ; the frontier supplied 
 them with troops and warlike stores, and the Magyars 
 were obliged to exert all their power to restrict their 
 enemy to the defensive. This they accomplished, 
 but the losses they sustained in the conflict with the 
 Serbs were frightful. 
 
 On the 30th of July the Archduke John, after a 
 short stay, left "Vienna, and went back to his post at 
 Frankfort ; and a fortnight afterwards the ban return- 
 ed home. Thus the last negotiations for peace were 
 broken off, and Jellachich did not see the metropolis 
 again until he entered* it with Prince Windischgratz. 
 
 During his three journeys to Vienna and Inspruck, 
 Jellachich was in constant intercourse, personally and 
 by letter, with the members of the imperial family. 
 The secret favourable disposition of the court made 
 amends to his vanity for having incurred the stigma 
 of high-treason, with which he was publicly accused 
 in the imperial proclamations : a squeeze of the hand 
 by the archdukes fettered the free spirit of this highly- 
 gifted man ; he was the victim of court favour, as many 
 a better man has been before. 
 
 While the Hungarian ministry were attempting the 
 last measures of negotiation through Prince Esterhazy 
 in Vienna, they were engaged in preparing Hungary 
 
kossuth's views. 77 
 
 for the chance of extremities. During this period 
 Kossuth delivered his most masterly speeches, in 
 which the irresistible eloquence of the orator and the 
 penetrating views of the statesman are equally wonder- 
 ful. He at that time took a more correct view of the 
 position of Austria and the rest of Europe than subse- 
 quently, when, isolated amidst a number of self- 
 elected men, he was led to adopt many erroneous and 
 fatal opinions. From his speech of the 11th of July, 
 one of the most important he ever delivered, we extract 
 the following passages, as illustrating his view of the 
 politics of Europe : — 
 
 " No sooner had we (the ministers) entered upon 
 office, than we opened a communication with the 
 English government, and represented to them that 
 Hungary had not, as many wished it to be believed, 
 extorted rights and liberties from her king by a re- 
 bellion, but that we took our stand upon the same 
 ground with our lord and king. We represented 
 further to the English government, that the interests 
 of their country and ours are identical upon the 
 Lower Danube. The answer given by England was 
 such as we might be led to expect from the liberal 
 character of her policy, but at the same time from 
 the sober regard to her own interests usually enter- 
 tained by that nation. Of this, however, we may rest 
 assured, that England will yield us her support so far 
 as is consistent with her own interests. 
 
 " With respect to France, in spite of the general 
 sympathy I entertain for all champions of freedom, I 
 would not see the prospects of my country dependent 
 upon her protection or her alliance. France has at 
 this moment witnessed an 18th Brumaire ; France 
 stands upon the threshold of a dictatorship. Possible, 
 
78 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 indeed, it is, that the world may see arise a second 
 Washington, but not less possible a second Napoleon. 
 Thus much, however, is clear, that France has taught 
 us one great lesson, — the lesson that not every revo- 
 lution is achieved in the service of freedom, and that 
 a people is most in danger of bending under the yoke 
 of tyranny when, in the struggle for liberty, they 
 pass the strict limits of right. But, whatever form 
 the relations of France may assume, let us not forget 
 that France is far distant from Hungary. Poland 
 leaned upon the sympathy of France,— she has still 
 that sympathy, but Poland — is no more. 
 
 "With regard to Germany, I feel assured in my 
 own mind of the truth of what I now assert. Gentle- 
 men, the Hungarian nation is called upon to cherish 
 mutual and friendly relations with the free German 
 people, and in union with them to watch over the 
 civilization of the German East. On this account, 
 we deemed it one of our first duties, after Germany 
 had by the assembly of the Frankfort parliament set 
 the first step toward establishing her unity, to send 
 two of our honourable fellow-countrymen immediately 
 to Frankfort, where they were received with that con- 
 sideration and respect which the representatives of 
 Hungary have a right to claim." 
 
 After sketching the position of affairs at home and 
 abroad, Kossuth brought forward a motion to em- 
 power the government to raise the disposable war 
 forces to two hundred thousand men, and to make an 
 immediate levy of forty thousand troops. At the 
 same time, he promised to lay before the house a 
 detailed financial scheme, in the course of a few days, 
 stating the means of raising the supplies required. 
 Nyary was the first to raise his hand in token of 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE DIET. 79 
 
 assent, exclaiming, " We grant it !" The other depu- 
 ties, of all parties, followed his example ; the enthu- 
 siasm of the assembly rendered any debate impossible 
 and superfluous. 
 
 But Kossuth and his colleagues in the ministry 
 were at this time not without opponents ; it is a com- 
 mon error to imagine that in the House of Represen- 
 tatives at Pesth there was only one party, which in 
 blind confidence in the ministry had become accus- 
 tomed to yield a unanimous approval to their measures. 
 Whoever reads the reports of the sessions will be con- 
 vinced of the contrary. The majority of those men 
 who a few months previously had formed the extreme 
 left at Pressburg, represented in Pesth the ministerial 
 fraction as the moderate centre. There was no 
 right ; the opposition consisted of a few dozen hot- 
 headed men, with Madarasz and Perczel at their head. 
 Kossuth had long been overborne by the clamour of 
 this party, and his policy toward the court was as 
 rashly condemned by Perczel as the conduct of the 
 war against the Serbs under the aegis of the minister 
 of war, Meszaros. Perczel everywhere fancied he 
 detected treason, and gave ready and bold utterance 
 to sentiments which the majority as yet refrained from 
 avowing, in order not to render the breach with Vi- 
 enna irrevocable. 
 
 Batthyanyi expected every thing from a final reso- 
 lution of the emperor in favour of Hungary. Kossuth 
 had less confidence . in such an issue ; still he wished 
 by temporizing to gain time, in order to put the coun- 
 try in a state of defence ; but Madarasz and Perczel 
 would have at once embarked in a crusade against 
 Austria. " The nation will rise as one man, and the 
 rest will speedily follow," — so reasoned Madarasz. 
 
80 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Against these hot-headed enthusiasts, who were hailed 
 with the customary applause of the galleries, Kossuth 
 had incessantly to contend, with arguments founded 
 on policy and reason ; and in truth his was no easy task. 
 
 The Upper House had abandoned nearly all its 
 influence. Many of those Hungarian magnates who 
 by their position were bound to the court, and had 
 sought to fly in time from the threatening storm, or 
 had previously belonged to the ante-March Conserva- 
 tive party, kept away from Pesth, took long journeys, 
 or awaited the issue of events on the romantic lakes 
 of the Salzkammergut. Others, again, considered 
 their presence in the diet useless, and longed to take 
 the field, where they might be able to render more 
 effectual service to their country. 
 
 These representatives brought forward a motion, 
 that leave of absence should be granted to every 
 member of the diet who felt inclined to exchange his 
 place in the Upper House for the camp. The motion 
 was powerfully supported by Beothy, Counts Andrassy, 
 Palffy, Karolyi, Barons Vay, Wesselenyi, and Ujhazy ; 
 and the number of members in the Upper House re- 
 quired to constitute a quorum was immediately reduced 
 from fifty to thirty. 
 
 On this occasion the blind Wesselenyi delivered 
 one of his noblest and most effective speeches, in which 
 he exhorted to moderation and fresh attempts at ne- 
 gotiation : this was the last conciliatory speech of the 
 grayheaded patriot. 
 
 Yet another attempt was made from Pesth to avert 
 an open war, or at all events to obtain sure informa- 
 tion as to the views of the court. A deputation, 
 consisting of one hundred and twenty representatives 
 of the two houses, with Pazmandy at their head, re- 
 
CONCILIATORY DEPUTATION. 81 
 
 paired to Vienna on September 6, (the emperor had 
 already returned from Inspruck,) to lay at the foot of 
 the throne the assurance of their fidelity, together 
 with their complaints, their petitions, and their fears. 
 
 "The power that impels the movement," said Paz- 
 mandy in an audience of the emperor on the 8th of 
 September, " which is now laying in ashes peaceable 
 villages in the southern districts of Hungary, butcher- 
 ing innocent women and children in a more than barba- 
 rous manner, as well as the cause of that rising which 
 threatens Hungary with a hostile invasion from the 
 side of Croatia, can be no other than the reactionary 
 attempt which aims at annihilating the lawful inde- 
 pendence of Hungary and the freedom of the people, 
 and violating the laws which the ancestors of your 
 majesty and your majesty's self have sanctioned in the 
 coronation oath. Upon the speedy decision of your 
 majesty it depends to avert such incalculable dangers." 
 
 Pazmandy concluded his speech with these words. 
 The Emperor Ferdinand answered, that it was at all 
 times his firm resolve to uphold the laws, the rights, 
 and the integrity of his Hungarian crown, in accord- 
 ance with his royal oath, and that he would communi- 
 cate his determination in the shortest possible time 
 through the ministry. 
 
 With this unsatisfactory answer, which left every 
 thing in doubt, Ferdinand dismissed the Hungarian 
 deputation. It was the last which he received as 
 emperor. The weak monarch imagined that he re- 
 mained true to his oath, and satisfied his conscience, 
 by voluntarily ceding his Hungarian crown to his 
 nephew, who was personally bound by no promise and 
 by no coronation oath. The Hungarians returned to 
 their own country on the evening of the same day. 
 
82 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 JELLACHICH AND HIS ARMY — PASSAGE OF THE DRAVE — MOGA — 
 BATTLE OF VELENTSE— JELLACHICH BEFORE VIENNA AND PRESS- 
 BURG — COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 By means of agents, Jellachich had spread alarm 
 throughout the frontier, and at his summons Sclavonia, 
 Illyria, Croatia, and the military frontier, took up arms. 
 Eighteen thousand regular troops, well provided with 
 artillery and all warlike stores, assembled on the banks 
 of the Drave, in the neighbourhood of Warasdin. 
 These were joined by an army of thirty thousand pea- 
 sants from the lower country, who were allured by the 
 prospect of carrying off large booty from the rich land 
 of Hungary, especially from Pesth. Of these peasants, 
 the Seressans were by far the most formidable, from 
 their spirit and cruelty. Their red uniforms were 
 enough to sink the hearts of their foes, who dreaded 
 them as they would dread tigers or hyenas. The Hun- 
 garians gave them no quarter. The common Croats 
 were neither cruel by nature nor formidable on ac- 
 count of their valour. But they delighted in plunder, 
 and would slay to reach a rich booty. 
 
 The frontier regiments formed the flower of the 
 army with which Jellachich took the field, to detach 
 the provinces of the south from the crown of St. Ste- 
 phen. He held the command as Lieutenant-fieldmar- 
 shal, in the emperor's name : the majority of his 
 officers were in the Austrian service ; the cannon, 
 taken from the magazines of the frontier, were served 
 
JELLACHICH AND HIS ARMY. 83 
 
 by imperial artillerymen, and his cavalry consisted of 
 the Banal hussars. Great exertions were used to 
 raise and equip this army, whose achievements, how- 
 ever, make but a sorry figure in the annals of the 
 war. As for the thirty thousand men who roved after 
 the ban's army helter-skelter, most of them dispersed 
 again before they had time to gain any knowledge of 
 the world ; those who remained with the army got 
 accoutred by degrees, but were always a rapacious, 
 worthless rabble, ready only to burn and pillage. 
 
 With this army Jellachich passed the Drave on the 
 9th of September, and entered upon the Hungarian 
 soil. A man of such high cultivation of mind could 
 not be stopped by the formality of a declaration of 
 war, — that absurdity in the law of nations ; he came 
 with no avowed intention of detaching Croatia from 
 the crown of Hungary, nor as an invading foe ; he 
 announced himself in the capacity of Imperial Lieute- 
 nant-fieldmarshal, come with the declared purpose of 
 putting down the revolution in Hungary. 
 
 The fact, that up to this time there had been no trace 
 of a revolution in Hungary, was not allowed to suggest 
 any question or difficulty to enlightened minds ; if a 
 revolution had not taken place, one must at all hazards 
 be provoked, in order to furnish a pretext at Vienna 
 for interference. This task Jellachich took upon him- 
 self, like a well-trained dog, which is taught to set two 
 bears on one another for the amusement of the spec- 
 tators and the profit of his master. 
 
 Judging from his previous character and conduct, 
 he was in the first instance a foolish enthusiast, and it 
 was not until he had gone too far to retrace his steps 
 without wounding his vanity, that he threw himself 
 unconditionally into the arms of Austria. 
 
84 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 It may remain a riddle to many at the present day 
 how the Croatian army succeeded in advancing from 
 the Drave to the Danube and to Pressburg, and how 
 it happened that at the commencement of the war the 
 Magyars fought so unsuccessfully against their ene- 
 mies, whom at a later period they mastered so com- 
 pletely. Were they not the same Serbs, Wallachs, and 
 Croats who were afterward so thoroughly beaten when- 
 ever they encountered the Hungarians in the open 
 field ? and were they not the same Magyars ? 
 
 With respect to the engagements with the Serbs, the 
 nature of the country, which was in the highest degree 
 unfavourable to the Hungarians, must be considered 
 the main cause that rendered victory on the side of 
 the Bacska so difficult. The sheltered positions, re- 
 markably favoured both by nature and art, were 
 capable of being successfully defended against even a 
 superior force, better organized and appointed than the 
 Hungarian army at the commencement of the war. 
 This important advantage was lost in the first engage- 
 ments with Jellachich; nay, had the Hungarians 
 wished to arrest the march of the enemy, they could 
 easily have disputed his passage of the Drave. 
 
 But the first condition which Jellachich had stipu- 
 lated at Vienna, in accepting a mediation, was, that 
 the Hungarian ministry of war should withdraw their 
 troops from the Croatian frontier. Batthyanyi, who 
 readily listened to terms of peace which should not 
 compromise the rights of Hungary, acceded to this 
 demand, and the left bank of the Drave had in con- 
 sequence remained unoccupied by the Hungarians, 
 notwithstanding that the Croat troops had meanwhile 
 concentrated around Warasdin, and were actually on 
 their march toward the frontier. 
 
HUNGARIAN OFFICERS. 85 
 
 On the 11th of September, a few hours before the 
 return of Pazmandy with the deputation, the news 
 reached Pesth that the Ban of Croatia had passed the 
 frontier river with his army, and entered Hungary as 
 an avowed enemy. 
 
 The excitement both within and without the House 
 of Representatives was great. On one point all were 
 agreed, that the impudent invader should be repelled 
 by force of arms ; but the officers of the Hungarian 
 army were not agreed among themselves. If when 
 encountering the robber hordes of Serbs they found a 
 difficulty in reconciling their feelings with their con- 
 science, their duty to the royal and the imperial inte- 
 rests, this difficulty was now increased when called 
 upon to face the Croat leader, who, armed with the 
 sovereign powers of an imperial general, was entering 
 Hungary at the head of Austrian regular troops under 
 Austrian officers. 
 
 Any one even superficially acquainted with Metter- 
 nich's policy, and who now sees — as the prince himself 
 has done, and probably Count Stadion until the con- 
 viction drove him mad — that Austria can only be held 
 together in her political aggregate by opposing her 
 national elements to one another, — will not wonder 
 that most of the appointments to the command of the 
 Hungarian regiments were filled by non-Magyar offi- 
 cers. The same remark applies to the Italian and 
 Polish troops. In the hussar regiments, especially, 
 are found officers of all nations. The superiority of 
 this magnificent cavalry has been time out of mind so 
 universally acknowledged, that the noble and wealthy, 
 who take pleasure in a soldier's life, eagerly seek 
 admission into its ranks. Among these are found Ita- 
 lians, Poles, French Legitimists, Germans from all the 
 
86 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 principalities, and not a few of the younger sons of the 
 English nobility. 
 
 Many of these imperial officers at that time joined 
 the cause of Hungary, for the butcheries perpetrated 
 by the Serbs were such as to fill every honest soldier's 
 heart with indignation : the struggle against the Serbs 
 was righteous in the sight of God and man ; for this 
 bloodthirsty race had rushed into warfare notoriously 
 from a mere thirst for spoil and plunder ; and at that 
 period there was no symptom of a national rising, 
 which has something grand even in its excesses. But 
 the struggle was moreover sanctioned by the laws of 
 the country and the will of the king, with whose appro- 
 bation the Hungarian regiments entered upon and 
 maintained the contest. 
 
 Even at the time when Jellachich had the emperor's 
 standard borne before the banner of Croatia, and 
 when he and his Croats had already crossed the Drave, 
 a large number of the imperial officers remained true 
 to the Hungarian en use. Had not the emperor 
 declared the ban guilty of high-treason ? 
 
 That this sentence of high-treason merely masked 
 the favour of the court — that Jellachich half uncon- 
 sciously led his Croats to fight for the interest of this 
 court — that the Vienna ministry of war rendered 
 him every assistance, while they amused the Hunga- 
 rian minister with proposals of conciliation — that in 
 this manner Austrians were set against Austrians, in 
 order the more successfully to oppose the Magyars by 
 force of arms — that so cold-blooded a policy could be 
 conceived and carried out in the burg of the " pater- 
 nal" house of Hapsburg — were acts which, to the 
 honour of mankind be it said, could not have been 
 anticipated by the lieutenants in the army, while very 
 
MOGA. * 87 
 
 few of the generals had any certain knowledge of the 
 truth. 
 
 Had it not been for this internal disunion, it may 
 be doubted whether Jellachich, notwithstanding the 
 superiority of his forces, would have succeeded in 
 advancing as far as the county of Stuhlweissenburg. 
 But the regiments under Moga were continually 
 marching against the enemy, only to retreat again ; 
 projects were formed, to be rejected before they were 
 put in execution, positions were taken up only to be 
 abandoned, towns occupied only to be given up again, 
 bridges constructed only to be destroyed. Not any 
 battle of importance had yet been fought, when the 
 alarming intelligence reached Pesth that the Croats 
 were within one day's march of the metropolis. 
 
 Moga held the chief command, a man grown gray 
 in the service of the emperor. The excuse he made 
 for his inactivity was, that he "had not yet found 
 any spot for a battle." No spot large enough for a 
 field of battle between the Drave and the Danube ! 
 The words are too rich not to be immortalized. 
 
 Meanwhile the landsturm, or general levy, had col- 
 lected in the counties of Sumeg and Szlad, and 
 swarmed around the Croats on all sides ; for the 
 Hungarian peasants were not, like their officers, per- 
 plexed by a divided allegiance, and they simply sought 
 to strike the Croats dead. Similar risings were pre- 
 paring in the counties of Wessprim, Weissenburg, and 
 Pesth. The enemy was harassed incessantly day and 
 night, and obliged to fight for every wagon-load of 
 provisions. A considerable force was concentrated 
 under Moga between Pesth and Stuhlweissenburg; 
 thousands of volunteers came flocking in from all sides ; 
 and as the enemy advanced toward the metropolis, 
 
88 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 the eagerness for battle increased in the Magyar 
 ranks. 
 
 Between Stuhlweissenburg and Buda, about half a 
 mile distant from the former town, is situated the 
 village of Velentze, on the northern point of the lake 
 of the same name. The Hungarians had taken up 
 their positions between Velentze, Sukoro, Pakozd, as 
 far as Martonvasar, Sept. 29 ; and here, amid vineyards 
 which had scarcely put forth their earliest shoots, the 
 first battle was fought, and Jellachich was defeated. 
 
 Had the Hungarians at that time possessed resolute 
 leaders, the heroic career of Jellachich would have 
 terminated at Velentze. The hussars besought their 
 officers for permission to annihilate the treacherous 
 enemy ; the enthusiasm of the volunteers, after this 
 first success, rose to the highest pitch ; the landsturm 
 were ready to cut off the enemy in their flight man by 
 man. Jellachich begged for a truce of three days, 
 which was generously granted him. 
 
 He now meditated an escape at any cost ; for even 
 without encountering the risk of a battle, he saw before 
 him the destruction of his army. The Croats were 
 beginning to suffer from want of provisions, the land- 
 sturm stopped all supplies from the south, and single 
 bands of marauders were captured in the villages and 
 destroyed. To escape from unconditional surrender, 
 Jellachich broke the truce, and under shelter of night 
 stole away with his army from the territory on which 
 he had originally planned his operations, to gain the 
 Upper Danube and the Austrian frontier, from whence 
 he intended to slink back home along Styria. He aban- 
 doned to their fate his army of reserve, 9000 men strong, 
 who were taken prisoners by Perczel, together with 
 their commanding generals, Roth and Philippovich. 
 
JELLACHICH BEFORE VIENNA. 89 
 
 The pursuit of Jellachich was followed up tardily, 
 and more in show than reality. The fugitive Croats 
 reached Pressburg in the most miserable plight, and 
 pillaging as they fled, in spite of the thousand basti- 
 nadoes which, according to his own statement, the ban 
 distributed day after day. Here Jellachich received 
 the first precise information of the Vienna October 
 revolution, of Latour's murder, and the flight of the 
 emperor. 
 
 Couriers from Count Auersperg, then commandant 
 of Vienna, and from the court, who on their flight to 
 Olmutz had received news of the retreat of the ban 
 to Pressburg, brought Jellachich the invitation or com- 
 mand to join Auersperg's troops, in order to crush the 
 revolution in the metropolis. This invitation could 
 not have arrived at a better time ; the ban's resolution 
 was at once taken. He crossed the frontier of the 
 archduchy, and encamped before the gates of Vienna ; 
 for, as imperial general, he followed the thunder of 
 the cannon, and felt called upon to put down the an- 
 archy in Vienna. 
 
 The idea was ingenious, it cannot be denied ; nay, 
 the Croat expedition exhibits a daring spirit of enter- 
 prise, and history will not dispute to Jellachich the 
 fame of a bold agitator. More than this he was not ; 
 and it is questionable whether at the present day he 
 would be able a second time to draw his countrymen 
 from the quiet of their homes. 
 
 Jellachich has long lost the importance which at- 
 tached to him as leader of the South- Sclavish move- 
 ment. Cursed by the Hungarians, he is despised by 
 the patriots of his own country ; for, of all the pro- 
 mises he held out, and in consideration of which they 
 followed him to the field of battle, he has fulfilled not 
 
90 
 
 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 one — literally none. What a matter for congratula- 
 tion to the Croats, that, instead of speaking Hungarian 
 in the diets at Pesth, they will be allowed to speak 
 German in the future Vienna parliament ! In Pesth, 
 although in a minority, they would always have pos- 
 sessed some weight ; at Vienna — if indeed it comes to 
 this — they will ever remain an insignificant band, un- 
 noticed, if not despised, beside the Germans, Magyars, 
 Italians, and Poles. 
 
 During the month of October, Jellachich's army 
 lay before Vienna, encompassing the ill-fated city in 
 a semicircle on the east. There was not much call for 
 action ; a fruitless cannonade morning and evening 
 directed against the lines, from which the fire was 
 usually opened, — the occasional butchering a stray 
 student who fell into their hands, or setting fire to 
 some neighbouring barn, — such exploits, together with 
 alternate military exercises, and repose from the fa- 
 tigues of the Hungarian campaign, filled up the time. 
 
 Jellachich deduced his authorization to enter the 
 German- Austrian territory with Croat troops, and to 
 lay siege to Vienna, from the same peculiar quickness 
 of ear with which he had heard " the thunder of the 
 cannon," and from the obligation imposed on him as 
 imperial general to obey the commands of his sove- 
 reign. The validity of the latter reason must at all 
 events be admitted in point of right ; and if right was 
 violated, the least share of the reproach falls to the 
 ban. He was at liberty to exchange his position as 
 an independent agitator for that of a submissive ser- 
 vant, and this liberty he exercised. 
 
 The last days of October came ; the battle of Schwe- 
 chat followed ; Vienna fell ; Jellachich at the head 
 of a regiment of dragoons entered the metropolis, with 
 
BUTCHERIES IN VIENNA. 91 
 
 a dozen Seressans at his heels. Then came Windis- 
 chgratz, and martial law, and the drum-head courts- 
 martial, and the executions in the trenches of Vienna. 
 
 In the frightful scenes which were now preparing 
 in the heart of the ill-fated city, Jellachich had no 
 share. His Croats emulated the Bohemian riflemen 
 in pillaging and murder, but these outrages Jellachich 
 was unable to arrest, when the commander-in-chief 
 made the martial law valid on one side only. History 
 must likewise acquit him of the murderous acts which 
 were subsequently committed by authority of the 
 courts-martial — the imprisonments and persecutions 
 which for months converted the gay and cheerful 
 Vienna into a city of mourning and lamentation. Jel- 
 lachich raised his voice against the mode of pacifica- 
 tion adopted by Prince Windischgratz, but his remon- 
 strance was unheeded. 
 
 It was in the last days of October — part of the 
 Vienna fauxbourgs was already in the hands of the 
 military, and there was no longer any doubt of the 
 speedy surrender of the city — when Windischgratz 
 summoned the generals of his army to a council of 
 war at his head-quarters in Hetzendorf. He desired 
 to hear their opinions on the measures to be adopted 
 respecting the conquered city, to maintain future tran- 
 quillity. All the generals — whether from conviction, 
 or a desire to please their lord and master — advocated 
 the adoption of severe and merciless measures against 
 the rebellious city. It was argued, that the utmost 
 rigour of martial law, and especially the rigid mainte- 
 nance of a state of siege, could alone quench the last 
 spark of the revolution and atone for the past. 
 
 Two men alone in this military council advocated 
 mild and conciliatory measures : these were the Italian 
 
92 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WA^L 
 
 General Nobili and the Ban of Croatia. The former, 
 a man of education and learning, who had all his life 
 devoted much attention to philosophical studies, was, 
 from his humane disposition, regarded by his compa- 
 nions in rank as a dreamer, an enthusiast, and conse- 
 quently his opinion carried no weight. And Jella- 
 chich — he too was a dreamer, a poet, and a man of 
 an unpractical mind. 
 
 The voice of humanity was overborne, its claims 
 outweighed in the balance ; the sword, shot, chain, 
 and lash which the other officers cast into the scale 
 turned the beam, and the fate of Vienna was decided. 
 
THE HUNGARIAN ARMY. 93 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HUNGARIAN ARMY — BATTLE OP SCHWECHAT — MOGA AND 
 
 GORGEY — OPENING OF THE WINTER CAMPAIGN RETREAT — BA- 
 
 BOLNA AND MOOR PERCZEL REMOYAL OP THE GOVERNMENT 
 
 TO DEBRECZIN WINDISCHGRATZ AT PESTH HARDSHIPS OP THE 
 
 WINTER CAMPAIGN WARLIKE PREPARATIONS IN DEBRECZIN. 
 
 For. twenty successive days, the Viennese had re- 
 pulsed every assault of the imperial troops. Along 
 the whole extent of the lines of fortification, the heavy 
 artillery played, with brief intermission, throughout 
 the day ; and when it grew dark, the ill-fated city was 
 encompassed by a sea of fire, to which the surrounding 
 timber-yards, barns, and villages fell a prey. The 
 Hungarian army, encamped around Pressburg, up to 
 the river Leytha, remained all this time inactive, in 
 spite of repeated orders from the committee of defence 
 to cross the frontier and advance to the relief of the 
 metropolis. Moga contrived to excuse his dilatory 
 tactics until, at last, Kossuth himself was despatched 
 to inspect the position of the army and take some de- 
 cisive step. 
 
 Kossuth had not been at Pressburg for seven 
 months. In this city and its immediate environs were 
 assembled all the forces that represented the main 
 Hungarian army, that inspired the Viennese in their 
 straitened position with so much hope, that embarrassed 
 the Austrian diet, and cost the court at Olmutz many 
 a sleepless night. 
 
 Two regiments of hussars, fourteen to fifteen thou- 
 
94 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 sand regular troops of the line, together with a body 
 of 20,000 untrained soldiers of the national guard and 
 militia, about constituted the forces which had to try 
 the fortune of war against the Austrians under Win- 
 dischgratz and Jellachich. 
 
 The county of Komorn alone furnished 8000 of 
 these militia, and Count Nadasdy, its hereditary Fo 
 Ispan, (Lord Lieutenant,) himself led them to Press- 
 burg. But we must not wrong the poor count : as- 
 suredly he was more led than leader. Any one 
 acquainted with his previous conduct in the diets at 
 Pressburg will naturally be surprised at the extraordi- 
 nary change of circumstances which could render it 
 possible for a Nadasdy to march at the head of a few 
 thousand guards and scythemen against the residence 
 of his king — the same Nadasdy, the same Don-Quix- 
 otte-looking figure, with his long face and hooked nose, 
 who had been seated at the green table with the Judex 
 Curiae, a conservative of the first water, a muezzim 
 who from the minaret of his elevated seat thrice a day 
 called upon the faithful to maintain inviolate the Sures 
 of the constitution (his Koran,) — a man in whose small 
 brain-box there was but just room to lodge the articles 
 of the Hungarian constitution, which lay there quietly 
 side by side like the ten commandments inscribed on 
 the parchment phylacteries of the Jews, — in a word, 
 the most decided antagonist of Kossuth and the oppo- 
 sition, whose views appeared to him so chimerical that 
 he never took the trouble to oppose them in the diet. 
 
 As Napoleon held that nothing in the world was 
 impossible, so Kossuth would not allow that any thing 
 came too late. In his opinion, a decisive act is always 
 in time, and he adhered to this belief frequently when 
 it really was too late. This was the case at the time 
 
BATTLE OF SCHWECHAT. 95 
 
 when the question arose of leading the Hungarian 
 army across the Leytha. In Pesth he had urged the 
 pursuit of Jellachich over the frontiers of the country, 
 even at the risk of an open rupture with the imperial 
 house ; and on this point he agreed with the left in 
 the diet, who considered a rupture with the dynasty 
 as a fait accompli, and would no longer hear of terms. 
 
 All in the camp pressed eagerly forward to see the 
 favourite of the nation, who was greeted with the loud- 
 est acclamations by the troops. The Hungarian regi- 
 ments especially rejoiced at the thought of being led 
 against the enemy ; but their officers were more than 
 ever doubtful and dissatisfied when they saw that 
 Kossuth was resolved on their marching to Vienna. 
 
 Kossuth's reasoning prevailed in the council of war, 
 — "it is not yet too late." If he was deceived, the 
 fault partly rested with the deputies from the Viennese 
 guards, legionaries, and clubs, who at the risk of their 
 lives and in various disguises, appeared singly in the 
 Hungarian camp, and represented the means of de- 
 fence in Vienna in a greatly exaggerated light. 
 
 Had Moga followed in the track of the ban, and 
 not have allowed him time to unite with Auersperg, 
 and take up a position before the walls of Vienna, the 
 result would have been placed beyond a doubt. The 
 Hungarians would have marched to Vienna without 
 encountering any material resistance, the diet and the 
 people would have gained a better knowledge of their 
 position and their power, the revolution would have 
 assumed a new and imposing aspect, embracing the 
 whole archduchy, Moravia, Galicia, and very probably 
 Bohemia likewise ; the struggle would have certainly 
 commenced under different auspices, even if the result 
 had been eventually the same, which is not probable. 
 
96 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 But the important opportunity was allowed to slip. 
 The battle of Schwechat was a comedy, which at all 
 events cost a great sacrifice of blood, and the respon- 
 sibility of which rests on Kossuth's shoulders. The 
 fault of that unfortunate event is laid to the charge 
 of the Viennese, for having neglected to make a sally; 
 but such reasons can only be used as a consolatory 
 argument to the common soldier, to keep up his 
 courage and confidence ; in any other light the excuse 
 is inadmissible. Windischgratz had forces enough as- 
 sembled to have repelled any sally of a few thousand 
 students and Mobile guards, which could only have 
 been attended with a still greater sacrifice of human 
 life, and no prospect of success. 
 
 The battle of Schwechat, regarded from any point 
 of view, was a forlorn enterprise, which might have 
 terminated fatally, had Jellachich possessed the skill 
 to take advantage of his advantageous position. But 
 he was too little of a general for this, and moreover 
 under the orders of a Windischgratz, whom no one 
 will any longer call a genius. 
 
 Moga exposed his troops in this engagement in an 
 unpardonable manner; and the main body of the 
 Magyar army would have been lost, had not the re- 
 treat been ordered in time. On this occasion the great 
 talent of Kossuth displayed itself: with a keen pene- 
 tration and discernment, possessed only by men of 
 highly gifted natures, he detected among thousands 
 the man worthy to take the future command of the 
 army. It was Arthur Gb'rgey who first directed Kos- 
 suth's attention to the faulty tactics of Moga.* 
 
 With the exception of the storming of the village 
 
 * Kossuth raised Gorgey to the rank of general upon the field 
 of battle, and invested him with the command the following day. 
 
Gorgey. 
 
GORGEY MADE GENERAL-IN-CHIEF. 99 
 
 of Mannswerth, on which occasion the excellent Guyon 
 won his first laurels, no military achievement of any 
 importance occurred at the battle of Schwechat. The 
 retreat of the national guards and militia was a 
 shameful flight ; the whole road to Pressburg was 
 covered with shoes, which the fugitives had flung 
 away ; behind them marched the regular troops, in the 
 best order, cursing the cowardice of their country- 
 men, " who were unworthy," said they, "for the Hun- 
 garian soil to bear them." 
 
 Moga was removed from the chief command by 
 Kossuth, who acted in the name of the committee of 
 national defence, and Gorgey was invested with the 
 rank of general. " The nation," wrote Kossuth to 
 the House of Representatives, " has conferred on me 
 the honour of its confidence in the direction of public 
 affairs. May the nation likewise place confidence in 
 a man whom I trust from the bottom of my heart, 
 and whom I have found worthy to take the command 
 of our army." 
 
 After the battle of Schwechat, Gorgey held the 
 chief command. The aged Moga presented himself 
 voluntarily before the Austrian court-martial, and after 
 an arrest of several months, during the continuance 
 of the examination, he was sentenced to be deprived of 
 his rank of an Austrian general, to lose his orders and 
 titles, and to be imprisoned in a fortress for five years. 
 On the morning of the 31st of October, Gorgey was 
 a colonel in the army, — on the 1st of November, he 
 was general-in-chief of the Hungarian army of the 
 Danube. Kossuth quitted the camp to return to Pesth. 
 
 Gorgey allowed the inhabitants of the county of 
 Komorn, who wished it, to return home; but those 
 who preferred to remain with the army were enlisted 
 
\ 
 100 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 and armed. On the so-called Sauhaide, behind Press- 
 burg, Slovacks were seen exercising in their koppe- 
 niks, (woollen cloaks,) Magyars in their bunda, (furred 
 cloaks,) Jurats in their handsome attila, (laced coat,) 
 students in their blouse, and burghers in very respect- 
 able-looking dress-coats, — in mingled, parti-coloured 
 array. Meanwhile the main body of the regular 
 troops kept watch along the Austrian frontier, to 
 prevent any interruption of the practice of these re- 
 cruits by the imperialists ; and seldom a day passed 
 without some skirmish or engagement taking place at 
 the outposts. At the same time, throughout the 
 entire district, in front and at the back of Pressburg, 
 earth-walls were thrown up, bridges pulled down and 
 new ones erected, footpaths stopped up, and ditches 
 dug, as if the army intended to hold this position for 
 the winter. 
 
 Affairs went on thus through the month of Novem- 
 ber. At length winter began to set in, snow fell, and 
 Windischgratz set in motion his land armada. Early 
 in November he broke up his quarters, and marched 
 from Vienna toward the Hungarian frontier. The 
 divisions of his army crossed it at different points, and 
 the Hungarians everywhere retired. At Pressburg 
 they carried off with them the bridge of boats, and 
 doubtless the inhabitants were glad to get rid of them 
 at such a price ; they had always dreaded lest their 
 city should become the theatre of murderous scenes, 
 and they should be forced to act the part of heroes 
 against their will. The Austrian white-jackets were 
 therefore received with tears of dastardly emotion. 
 
 The Hungarian army marched past Pressburg. The 
 snow fell in large flakes, the wind blew icy cold, and 
 the feet of the cavalry froze in their stirrups. For 
 
ENGAGEMENT AT MOOR. 101 
 
 both parties, the campaign opened in no very agreeable 
 manner. The soldiers could hardly see a hundred 
 steps before them, so densely was the plain enveloped 
 in a veil of snow and clouds. Encountering a few un- 
 important skirmishes on their route, the Hungarians 
 came to Wieselburg, and marched thence to Raab. 
 The fortifications were abandoned without a blow. 
 
 One division of the army passed the Danube at 
 Komorn, and advanced to Waitzen ; the other half 
 continued its march along the right bank. Other 
 divisions had retired previously by Oedenburg and 
 Tyrnau. At Babolna and Moor the superior forces 
 of the Austrians were victorious ; in the latter place, 
 especially, a battle was fought, in which the Hunga- 
 rians suffered a heavy loss, notwithstanding the courage 
 and resolution displayed by Perczel and his troops. 
 This praise is due to Perczel on all occasions. He 
 was not particular in the choice of his positions, and 
 attacked the enemy or waited to be attacked as it 
 might happen — a want of discretion for which he had 
 to pay dearly in the Bacska ; but he has on all occa- 
 sions shown himself a brave soldier, and would have 
 engaged an enemy in the middle of a morass. 
 
 The engagement at Moor is still involved in mys- 
 tery. Perczel was not obliged to accept battle, for he 
 had arrived at Kisber half a day earlier than Jella- 
 chich, and might quietly have continued his march to 
 Buda. Perczel has been reproached by many for 
 having fought merely in order not to turn his back on 
 the hated Croats ; nevertheless, others acquit him of 
 the fault, and throw it wholly upon Gorgey, who is said 
 to have ordered Perczel to make a stand at Moor, 
 where he might reckon on receiving succours from the 
 main army. Perczel acted upon these orders, but the 
 
102 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 succours did not arrive. This explanation, however, 
 appears to be erroneous, considering the direction of 
 the main army. There is still a third view of the 
 question, entertained by many, which must be men- 
 tioned. Perczel is said to have received the order 
 from Kossuth himself to arrest the enemy's march at 
 any cost: "Every hour of delay is not too dearly 
 purchased even with a defeat." The following is as- 
 signed as the reason for this order. 
 
 In the council of war at Pesth, it had been agreed 
 to hold the frontier, and maintain possession of Press- 
 burg : Gorgey was not to retreat to Raab until this 
 should be no longer impossible. He had clear and 
 definite instructions on this point ; but he did not act 
 up to them on sound strategical grounds, and, in con- 
 sequence, Pesth was afterward surrendered from abso- 
 lute necessity. 
 
 On the 29th of December, the war minister, Mes- 
 zaros, stated to the house that at an earlier period it 
 had been the intention of the ministry to hold Press- 
 burg and Raab ; « but," he added, " the winter mili- 
 tates against us, as against the French in Russia in 
 the year 1812. Raab, which is situated at the inter- 
 section of several roads and rivers, would have formed 
 at any other time an excellent point d'appui, where 
 we might have awaited the enemy, and defeated them, 
 in spite of their superiority in number : at the present 
 time the water affords us no protection, but on the 
 contrary is so hard frozen as to form a safe passage 
 for the Austrian cavalry and their heaviest artillery. 
 It would, indeed, still be possible to give the Austrians 
 battle in the outskirts of Pesth ; but less would be 
 gained by this step than many may be apt to believe : 
 regarded in the most favourable light, the country 
 
DIET KEMOVED TO DEBRECZIN. 103 
 
 would be equally exposed to the enemy on all sides ; 
 and we should be stationed at Pesth, while a second 
 Austrian army, under Count Schlik, might surround 
 us on the north, pass the Theiss, and gain a footing in 
 the heart of our country." 
 
 Meszaros then showed the advantages that would 
 result from abandoning the metropolis, and transfer- 
 ring the government to the interior of the country. 
 The passages of the Theiss could be defended with 
 undoubted success ; while a strong corps in the north 
 would be able to keep in check the Austrians under 
 Schlik. In the pure Magyar counties lay the power 
 of Hungary ; there were centred her chief resources 
 — there her armies might be raised and trained — 
 there would the Austrian find his grave. 
 
 It required all the weight of Kossuth's personal 
 authority to quiet the left side of the chamber, who 
 considered the abandonment of the metropolis as a dis- 
 grace to the Hungarian nation, and overwhelmed the 
 minister of war with reproaches. Kossuth succeeded, 
 and the removal of the diet to Debreczin, together 
 with the plan of the winter campaign, were almost 
 unanimously adopted. Szegedin and Grosswardein 
 were also mentioned as places of retreat for the go- 
 vernment, but the proposition was overruled. 
 
 It was further resolved to placard the result of this 
 debate, but it is uncertain whether this was done : 
 indeed, it was afterward asserted by merchants at 
 Pesth, that the people had not the slightest anticipa- 
 tion of the near approach of the Austrians, until their 
 first columns were actually descried on the march to 
 Buda. Ludicrously enough, these merchants had gone 
 at noon into the cafe' of the Casino, close to the chain- 
 bridge, and were engaged in reading a placard just 
 
104 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 put out by Csanyi, entreating the citizens not to be 
 anxious, as there was nothing to fear for the metro- 
 polis, when the advanced columns of the Austrian 
 cavalry appeared on the other side of the bridge. 
 
 At the same time, the last column of the Hunga- 
 rians marched off on the opposite side. Csanyi, it 
 was asserted, had not left the city the next day, when 
 Windischgratz and Jellachich made their solemn en- 
 trance. Kossuth was said to have laboured for three 
 days and nights uninterruptedly, directing and super- 
 intending the removal of all the stores ; and so little 
 was he prepared for this retreat, that the devoted hero- 
 ism of Perczel at Moor alone enabled him to carry 
 off the banknote press from Pesth in perfect order. 
 This was the reason, as many assert, that Perczel was 
 ordered to arrest the progress of the enemy at any 
 cost ; and this was the cause of the battle at Moor, 
 the issue of which is not surprising, when the num- 
 bers of the forces opposed to one another are taken into 
 consideration. 
 
 It will ever remain a matter of astonishment, how 
 such a multitude of stores and effects could be re- 
 moved in the course of a few days : from the heaviest 
 locomotive engine down to a simple shot-belt, all was 
 packed up and carried away. Not a hobnail fit for 
 use was left behind : and let the reader only consider 
 the immense stores of ammunition and equipage which 
 had been collected in the magazines of Buda-Pesth, 
 first by the Austrians and afterward by the Hunga- 
 rians. All the various descriptions of arms, down to 
 their smallest pieces, which had first to be put toge- 
 ther, — the stores of cloth, roughly cut up into pieces 
 to be made into uniforms, — all had to be packed in 
 the best order, to be serviceable for future use. More- 
 
THE AUSTEIANS ENTEK PESTH. 105 
 
 over, this had to be accomplished without much noise 
 and bustle, which might have had the effect of excit- 
 ing the people of Pesth to some mad pranks. 
 
 Such achievements Kossuth alone was capable of 
 undertaking and carrying out. To Debreczin all these 
 effects were safely transported, and in that town there 
 was a general reassembling of friends. Some, how- 
 ever, remained behind, and among the rest Count 
 Louis Batthyanyi, whose journey to attempt a conci- 
 liation with Prince Windischgratz is as well known as 
 his unhappy fate. He fell a victim to the justice of 
 his country's cause, — no less a victim to his trust in 
 the justice of the Hapsburg dynasty. 
 
 Prince Windischgratz was now in possession of the 
 metropolis of Hungary and the cradle of the revolu- 
 tion. Pesth presented a peaceful aspect. No trace of 
 rebellion was to be seen. The prince and his officers 
 must themselves have been surprised at having tra- 
 versed such an extent of country, from Vienna to 
 Pesth, with scarcely any opposition. Wherever he 
 had hitherto appeared, his adversaries had retreated 
 before him. Prague was prostrate at his feet, as soon 
 as he announced his will and pleasure to the venerable 
 royal city by his iron messengers : Vienna had been 
 compelled to submit, notwithstanding the heroic bra- 
 very of her youths ; and now the dreaded Magyars, 
 avoiding any encounter with him, had quitted both 
 their old and new metropolis, had abandoned to him 
 without a blow the fair western portion of their coun- 
 try, and hidden themselves, like croaking, cowardly 
 frogs, in the marshes of the Theiss, or like frightened 
 chamois sought a refuge in the mountain fastnesses. 
 
 No wonder, therefore, if the vain prince overrated 
 his own talents ; more highly-gifted minds would per- 
 
106 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 haps, under similar circumstances, have yielded to the 
 same weakness, and Windischgratz is not a man of 
 first-rate abilities. He even felt a regret that the 
 Magyars had turned their backs so soon ; a series of 
 victories would have more flattered his vanity as com- 
 mander, and shed a lustre on his marshal's baton ; for 
 the immense preparations made during the last few 
 months must have appeared ridiculous when compared 
 with their results. Most of his field-pieces had still a 
 polished touch-hole, and his pontoons were unwetted 
 by a drop of water when they reached the meadows 
 at Buda. 
 
 Nevertheless, the march from Vienna had been a 
 difficult one, and it was but right to allow his troops 
 some rest. The winter had set in with unusual seve- 
 rity, and the army had suffered as much from the 
 frost and snow as from the retreating enemy. Win- 
 dischgratz thanked his brave troops, in an order of the 
 day, for their courage and perseverance under all 
 hardships ; the victor without a battle modestly de- 
 clared that with such an army victory was no glory 
 to the leader. All Europe marvelled at the discipline 
 of the Austrian army and the strategy of its general : 
 all Europe were astonished at the Magyars, who, re- 
 gardless of their ancient military glory, had hitherto 
 tamely submitted to the reproach of cowardice. 
 
 It was no merit in the eyes of Europe that the 
 newly-raised and undisciplined Hungarian troops had 
 accomplished in perfect order the same arduous march 
 as the Austrian army; for the hunted deer flying for 
 its life will leap chasms, at which it would stop short 
 when unpursued by the hounds. What is extolled as 
 courage in the huntsman, is looked upon as the effort 
 of despair in the hunted. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE HUNGARIAN ARMY. 107 
 
 What was the Hungarian army at that time ? who 
 were these Honveds ? how were they clad and armed, 
 and what was their appearance ? With the exception 
 of the regular troops, mere striplings, in plain clothes, 
 without a cloak or a glove, and almost without protec- 
 tion to their feet, — the thermometer standing at 16° 
 to 18° below zero, (Reaumur,) and still lower in the 
 night. Nevertheless, not a murmur or complaint was 
 heard ; no refractory or marauding spirit, springing 
 from discontent, appeared ; no stragglers, no desertion 
 from fatigue and hardship. With feet half-frozen they 
 marched over the wide plains of snow ; and when dis- 
 abled from pulling a trigger with their frost-bitten 
 fingers, they trailed their muskets after them, march- 
 ing on and on, ignorant how long a journey still lay 
 before them ere they could rest for a few days. 
 
 It was not until they had gained the country beyond 
 Pesth that they halted in their march. Between the 
 Danube and the Theiss they found a resting-place, 
 and a friendly reception in the villages. The sur- 
 geons were now actively busied in attending to the 
 sick and wounded, and many a strong man was com- 
 pelled to lose a limb from the effects of mortification. 
 The ravages of the cold had occasioned sufferings 
 which the surgeons have never since seen equalled. 
 Still, many a poor fellow, who would have died in a 
 camp-hospital, recovered the use of his limbs under 
 the kind care and nursing of the women ; and accord- 
 ing to all accounts, the Austrians, notwithstanding 
 their better and warmer clothing, suffered more from 
 the effects of the cold than the barely-clad Hungarian 
 troops. This circumstance may perhaps have mainly 
 deterred the Austrian field-marshal from an immediate 
 pursuit. He had always been an inexorable discipli- 
 
108 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 narian, and in times of peace so strict, that at Prague 
 (when military governor of Bohemia) he frequeDtly 
 jumped out of bed in the middle of the night, and with 
 only his dressing-gown on, even in the depth of winter, 
 ran from the commander's house to the barracks, two 
 streets distant, to satisfy himself that all the men 
 were, according to orders — snoring. But he felt all 
 the care for his soldiers that a father does for his 
 children, or a little girl for her dolls, — that is to say, 
 in times of peace and at the commencement of a cam- 
 paign, which had all the appearance of a field-exercise 
 or review. At a later period, in this as in other 
 matters, he lost his wits. 
 
 On his retreat from the Theiss to Pesth, Windisch- 
 gratz paid no attention to the wounded, who were 
 abandoned to their fate and the generosity of the 
 Magyars : the wounded soldier was no longer of value 
 in his eyes, and he left him upon the field as if already 
 dead. His chief concern was to secure his artillery — 
 the rest he left to Heaven and the Hungarian doctors. 
 His soldiers have always complained bitterly of this 
 inhumanity ; and it often happened that many fell 
 into the hands of the enemy, who in a few days would 
 have been able to return to the ranks, — that many 
 purposely remained behind when they might easily 
 have followed their comrades, and that at the close of 
 every engagement the loss was far greater than it 
 would have been, had the general-in-chief paid due 
 regard to his troops. 
 
 It was quite as little anticipated at Vienna as at 
 Pesth that the war would still be protracted, that the 
 rejoicings over the successful termination of the cam- 
 paign were premature, or that the great and sangui- 
 nary drama was in preparation beyond the Theiss, the 
 
PREPARATIONS AT DEBRECZIN. 109 
 
 last act of which was supposed to be already concluded. 
 The very fact that such ignorance could possibly exist 
 is not the least proof of the universal rising through- 
 out the country, of the general enthusiasm, the great- 
 ness of the nation, the devoted patriotism of every man 
 and — the want of skill in the Austrian general. 
 
 It seems almost incredible, that in Debreczin an 
 army could be assembled by beat of drum, equipped, 
 armed, accoutred, organized, provided with ammuni- 
 tion, artillery, and every requisite, without the Aus- 
 trians gaining any certain information of what was 
 in preparation beyond the Theiss. Was the town of 
 Debreczin a terra incognita, isolated from the rest of 
 the world ? Did it lie in a mountainous region encir- 
 cled by inaccessible rocks and hills ? or was it embed- 
 ded in subterranean hollows, attainable only by the 
 practised foot of its inhabitants ? 
 
 There lay Debreczin, a wretched-looking town, in 
 the midst of a flat country, yet containing in its dirty 
 streets, in its humble houses, all that was great in 
 Hungary, all that was destined to make Hungary 
 great. There are no walls and no gates ; every one 
 went in and out, the peasant with his bunda and the 
 Jew with his pack, the swineherd, the cowherd, and the 
 noblemam An incessant hammering and labouring 
 was going on ; the shoemaker and the tailor were at 
 work day and night, while on the plain all around 
 military exercises and manoeuvres were taking place, 
 with muskets and pikes, cannon and rockets. Horses 
 were driven in from every part of the country, to be 
 trained for the cavalry service ; quantities of metal 
 were brought in, of which cannon were cast, firelocks 
 forged, gun-barrels fabricated, gun-carriages built, 
 hussars' sabres hammered. Saltpetre manufactories 
 
110 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 and powder-mills were at work day and night ; the 
 easting of balls, saddlery-shops, manufactories of 
 percussion-caps, all had just sprung up, and were still 
 daily in progress. Everywhere the utmost zeal and 
 diligence were manifested by the workmen, while 
 Kossuth was the life and soul of the general activity, 
 of which indistinct rumours only reached the enemy's 
 camp. 
 
 Every day saw a new battalion ready for the field, 
 which relieved another on the line of the Theiss, and 
 was trained by service on the outposts for the approach- 
 ing struggle. And yet the Austrian generals perceived 
 nothing of these preparations ! 
 
 Large consignments of goods for the clothing of 
 the new battalions came pouring in from Vienna and 
 Styria, from north and south ; arms and leather were 
 brought from Silesia and Galicia by adventurous 
 speculators ; and yet not a word of all this was betrayed 
 to the enemy. 
 
 Windischgratz, it is true, paid his spies only five 
 florins, when any came to his head-quarters — a short- 
 sighted and niggardly policy, which was of great 
 advantage to the Hungarians, and in the end cost 
 the Austrian state treasury very dear ; it is true that 
 Debreczin lies in the heart of Hungary proper, and 
 was guarded by the peasants for miles around; never- 
 theless it is an ennobling reflection for the Hungarian 
 nation, indeed for the nation at large, that among so 
 many thousands who must have been cognisant of the 
 preparations going on in Debreczin, not one scoundrel 
 was found to betray his country for the wages of sin. 
 The brave peasants risked their lives day after day 
 in smuggling goods into Debreczin, — an act proclaimed 
 capital by martial law, — the women and children 
 
PATKIOTISM. Ill 
 
 assisted them under shelter of the night and fog ; not 
 one turned traitor. Poor Jews brought in their packs 
 whatever they could collect from far and near, but 
 not a man betrayed the cause of Hungary. And this, 
 be it remembered, when many a poor fellow might 
 have earned far more by turning traitor than by the 
 sale of the whole contents of his pack, and when many 
 of them knew better the state of affairs than the richly- 
 laced nobles who were lounging about in the streets of 
 Debreczin. They carried away Hungarian banknotes, 
 exchanged them for Austrian notes, and then stole to 
 Vienna with these and changed them for gold ; and not 
 a man abused the confidence placed in him. Honour 
 to every peasant, to every woman and child, — honour 
 to every Christian, Jew, and gipsy, who dwell in that 
 land ! They performed unheard-of and astounding 
 deeds, impelled solely by one great idea, that of free- 
 dom, of independence. 
 
112 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE HUNGARIAN HEATH — THE HORSE OF THE PUSZTA — DEFEAT 
 
 OF THE AUSTRIAN S GORGE Y's PASSAGE OF THE CARPATHIANS 
 
 — SCHLIK — GORGEY'S CAMP — THE PASS OF BRANESKI — DESTRUC- 
 TION OF THE OTTINGER BRIGADE RETREAT OF SCHLIK CAPITU- 
 LATION OF ESSEG POSITION OF THE HUNGARIANS. 
 
 A full month had elapsed, and the head-quarters 
 of the Austrian army were still at Buda. A court of 
 flatterers, of all parties, surrounded the prince, extol- 
 ling him as the greatest general of his time : the 
 emperor called him the saviour of his crown : the 
 members of the proud royal family vied with one 
 another in expressing to the prince the acknowledg- 
 ments of the house of Hapsburg in the most flattering 
 terms, while he received decorations and compliment- 
 ary letters from foreign potentates. Windischgratz, 
 the descendant of Albrecht Wallenstein, fancied him- 
 self greater than his celebrated ancestor ; at his side 
 he had his Illos and Terczkys, but no Duchess of Sa- 
 gan to shed a sunbeam of tenderness over the night of 
 his gloomy life. 
 
 In the royal castle at Buda, he was like a child 
 standing in the middle of a wide plain, gazing on the 
 horizon, where the earth and the gray sky blend into 
 one, and the world appears to terminate. He scarcely 
 anticipated that the world of his enemies only com- 
 menced at that eastern frontier. 
 
 From Pesth to the Theiss, and stretching thence in 
 the direction of Debreczin and Grosswardein, extends 
 
HORSE OF THE PUSZTA. 113 
 
 the great Hungarian heath, interrupted by a few hills 
 and large tracts of marshes. The Pesth merchant, who 
 transports his goods to market at Debreczin, speaks 
 with a kind of horror of the roads in this country, upon 
 which he has himself more frequently to carry his own 
 conveyance than to be carried in it, and where after 
 a short period of rain the light Hungarian horse sinks 
 hoof-deep in the bog, marsh, or sand, which in turn 
 render the roads wellnigh impassable. Behind this 
 level barrier the diet had retired from Pesth. 
 
 The prince was at this time very generally re- 
 proached for not advancing in the direction of the 
 Theiss immediately after the occupation of the metro- 
 polis, in order to annihilate the enemy at a blow. Per- 
 sons who reasoned thus could have known Hungary 
 only on the map, and measured with the compasses the 
 distance from Vienna to Pesth, and from Pesth to De- 
 breczin, which would of course appear thus nearly 
 equal. But if the march to Pesth was beset with diffi- 
 culties in the depth of winter, that to Debreczin was 
 almost impracticable, presenting all the obstacles and 
 perils of interminable and half-frozen morasses. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that the natural 
 features of the country presented the same obstacles to 
 the opposed parties engaged in the war. The horse 
 of the hussar is bred and reared in these parts of the 
 country : in a free state he roams at large over the 
 plains, until fit for training, when the Csikoses catch 
 him at the risk of their lives, in order to break him in 
 for the service of the army. As a cat knows every 
 hole and corner in the house where she first saw the 
 light, so the horse of the Puszta knows instinctively 
 every road and path over marsh and moor; and a 
 rider may safely, day or night, leave his steed to find 
 
 8 
 
114 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 his own way. He does not, like the mule on the steep 
 mountain-path, pick his steps slowly and cautiously, 
 but he snorts and starts off, frolicksome yet sure in his 
 speed, and combining the surefootedness of the moun- 
 tain ass with his own native fire and spirit. The horses 
 of the dragoons and cuirassiers may have other virtues 
 of their own, but upon these open plains they are out 
 of their element, like land-rats out at sea ; nor is their 
 Bohemian or German rider by any means a trusty 
 pilot. From this cause the heavy Austrian cavalry 
 regiments have not unfrequently played the part of 
 the pursued instead of the pursuer, when tempted to 
 follow their harassing enemy over such country. For 
 the same reason, likewise, the generals repeatedly 
 complained of the want of light cavalry, which in the 
 imperial army had from time immemorial consisted 
 principally of hussars ; and the want was now more 
 severely felt, as the Uhlans could never be safely 
 trusted when opposed to Polish generals. The Ma- 
 gyars appeared and disappeared rapidly with their 
 artillery, which was admirably masked by their light 
 cavalry ; while the imperial artillery was frequently 
 compelled to remain idle, notwithstanding its acknow- 
 ledged excellence. 
 
 For some time, not only the metropolis, but Kossuth 
 and the government were in entire ignorance of the 
 route which Gorgey had taken, although his army was 
 the main support of the country threatened with such 
 imminent peril. About four days after the entrance 
 of the imperialists into Pesth, it was rumoured that 
 Gorgey had defeated the Austrians near Waitzen. 
 The truth was as follows : — 
 
 On the night of the 4th of January, the last corps 
 of Gorgey's army, which had occupied the right bank 
 
DEFEAT OF THE AUSTRIANS. 115 
 
 of the Danube, abandoned its position around Pro- 
 montor and the defiles of the Buda Mountains, and 
 crossed the frozen Danube below Old Buda, at Mar- 
 garet Island, with a view to gain the road to Waitzen. 
 The rear-guard had not yet come up, when the Austrian 
 columns appeared before Buda. From Waitzen, Gorgey 
 marched to Ipoly-Sag, and there allowed his wearied 
 troops some rest. The Austrian generalissimo rested 
 at Buda, at the same time sending in advance strong 
 cavalry detachments in all directions, to reconnoitre 
 the enemy and secure Buda from a surprise. One of 
 these detachments followed unawares in the very foot- 
 steps of the main Hungarian army, and came t( 
 Ipoly-Sag. 
 
 Near this place is a wooded height, on the summit 
 of which are situated a chapel and a convent. At its 
 foot extends a narrow ravine, separating the fenced 
 convent-garden from the hill on which the chapel 
 stands ; and in this garden Gorgey had posted a 
 strong division of Honveds with some cannon. He 
 ordered loopholes to be pierced in this boarded fence 
 for his fusileers and artillerymen, an<} then had these 
 holes pasted over so as to act as a blind screen. 
 
 The ravine was to serve as a trap for the imperi- 
 alists, and the stratagem succeeded. Their pioneers 
 passed the ravine, and not a sound betrayed the vici- 
 nity of the enemy ; but no sooner had the chief de- 
 tachment reached the middle of the defile, than the 
 guns opened a fire upon them from the whole line of 
 fence, and several hundred imperialists fell. Their van- 
 guard was destroyed, and Gorgey's rearguard under 
 Benyicky, with their trophies of victory — a cannon 
 and several hundred prisoners — followed the main body 
 of the army, which was advancing by forced marches 
 
116 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 in the direction of Kremnitz and Schemnitz. At this 
 last town a bulletin issued by Prince Windischgratz 
 announced the defeat of Gorgey, with the loss of five 
 hundred men and eight cannon. 
 
 Gorgey 's intention was now to spread his army, and 
 by a combined mountain warfare to keep the whole 
 force of the Austrians engaged ; which would allow 
 the other corps on the Theiss to gain time, and con- 
 solidate and organize their forces. 
 
 At this point commence the remarkable manoeuvres 
 of this young general, which deserve to rank beside 
 the boldest and most splendid achievements of any 
 period in history. In the depth of a severe winter he 
 led his troops and artillery over the Carpathians, one 
 while appearing on the frontiers of Galicia, at another 
 in the mountain towns and villages, — escaping, pur- 
 suing, or pursued. All this, moreover, without incur- 
 ring any loss ; nay, when in the following month he 
 joined the other Hungarian corps on the Theiss, his 
 army was more numerous and better equipped than 
 when he started from the mountains of Old Buda ; his 
 officers and troops were better schooled and disciplined 
 than any others in the army, and they followed their 
 youthful leader, whom they idolized, with implicit con- 
 fidence and devotion. No fewer than three divisions 
 had followed in his track to annihilate him, and a 
 fourth was ready to close the road into Galicia to his 
 advance. 
 
 Nearly at the same time that Windischgratz de- 
 spatched from Buda the main body of his army toward 
 Szolnok, he sent about eight thousand men in the 
 direction of the mountain towns, to pursue Gorgey and 
 at the same time to support Schlik. This corps pressed 
 on the rear of the Hungarian army from the south, 
 
SCHLIK — KLAPKA. 117 
 
 but without coming up with it. The second Austrian 
 corps, sent in pursuit, nearly sixteen thousand men 
 strong, advanced from Tyrnau under Simunich and 
 Gbtz, driving before it the brave Guyon, who with 
 three thousand men halted at the latter town, gave 
 battle to the Austrians, and came off with the loss of 
 half his men. This corps was consequently advancing 
 from the west. 
 
 At the same time that Windischgratz started from 
 Vienna, Count Schlik set out from Galicia, intending to 
 enter Hungary from the north. He had the command 
 of from eight to ten thousand able troops, and is un- 
 questionably the bravest and most skilful of the impe- 
 rialist generals : his march across the Carpathians is 
 no less remarkable than that of Gb'rgey. These two 
 generals were opponents worthy of one another, and 
 their manoeuvres form the most interesting military 
 feature of the whole campaign. 
 
 As long as Schlik had to act against the excellent 
 but unskilful Meszaros, he had an easy game to play ; 
 he defeated him at Barcza, deceived him by the sim- 
 plest manoeuvres, and advanced up to the right bank 
 of the Theiss at Tokaj. Here, however, he found 
 from experience, and at the cost of a battle, (at Talja,) 
 that the command had been transferred from Mesza- 
 ros to more skilful hands. It was Klapka who won 
 the first real battle against Schlik, and against the 
 Austrians generally — the same Klapka who fired the 
 last shot against Austria, the most fortunate of the 
 Hungarian generals. 
 
 Schlik now experienced one defeat after another ; 
 he was obliged to retreat to Kaschau, and halted at 
 Eperies ; while Gb'rgey, pressed as he was on two sides, 
 was effecting his winter marches and countermarches 
 
118 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 over fields and mountains of ice and snow. He turned 
 northward to Zips, his native county,* shut in on 
 three sides ; while Hammerstein in Galicia ordered all 
 the disposable troops to the frontier to oppose his 
 fourth and last exit. 
 
 Gorge j was well aware of the desperate nature of 
 his position ; but only the more merriment prevailed 
 in his camp ; wherever he halted, he gave splendid 
 balls to his officers, and treated them sumptuously. 
 This was his invariable practice at critical periods : 
 thus at Schemitz he commanded a ball, at the very 
 moment when thousands were busy loading the coined 
 and uncoined money upon wagons, while the miners 
 were filling up the shafts, in order to deprive the 
 enemy of any advantage from those rich mines, and 
 while he was enlisting the miners themselves, nearly 
 fifteen hundred men, as pioneers in his corps, which 
 they entered joyfully. In like manner his officers 
 were dancing at Iglo, and on the 5th of February 
 (the birthday of their young general) at Leutschau, 
 while Schlik at the head of seven thousand men was 
 occupying the Pass of Branisko, with a view to ob- 
 struct the enemy's escape eastward. 
 
 The only road from Leutschau to Kaschau and 
 Eperies leads through this defile, which winds among 
 the mountains in a steep ascent of four leagues. The 
 Austrians had barricaded the entrance of this defile 
 in the ablest manner, and formed a position which 
 
 * Szemere, in his capacity of Hungarian government commis- 
 sioner, rendered great services at this time. Unaided he organized 
 five thousand guerilla troops, and contributed much to the success 
 of Klapka's campaign against Schlik, by his indefatigable efforts 
 and his influence with the population of the country ; he had been 
 at an earlier period Vice-gespann of the Borschod county. 
 
THE PASS OF BRANISKO. 119 
 
 four thousand men could defend for several days 
 against a hundred thousand. 
 
 Gb'rgey reached Iglo too late to take possession of 
 this pass. His vanguard had been surprised two 
 nights before, through the negligence of the outposts, 
 and a great portion of his artillery was only saved by 
 the most heroic valour of his troops. This train of 
 guns was halting in the street of a village, when the 
 Austrians unexpectedly attacked them : the rockets 
 flew into the place, and would have destroyed the 
 whole store of ammunition, together with the dwell- 
 ings of the peasants and Honveds, had not the people 
 run out at the risk of their lives, in a cold winter's 
 night, some in their shirts, and covering the wagons 
 with wet mats, dragged them to and fro, so as to pro- 
 tect the ammunition from the rockets, whose direction 
 could be distinctly traced in the air. The enemy was 
 repulsed, and Gbrgey's loss was trifling : his outposts 
 were taught caution by experience, and the Austrians 
 cannot boast of having surprised an Hungarian camp a 
 second time. 
 
 We left Gb'rgey in the midst of the ball. While the 
 regimental bands were playing Hungarian airs and 
 German waltzes, Guyon, at the command of the gene- 
 ral-in-chief, was advancing at the head of eight thou- 
 sand Honveds toward the Pass of Branisko. The 
 country people around — Germans, like most of the in- 
 habitants of the Zips, but everywhere with Magyar 
 sympathies — conducted him by secret paths to the foot 
 of the mountains which enclose the proper defile. 
 Here Guyon ordered four of his battalions to lay down 
 their arms ; and for five whole hours they climbed up 
 steep footpaths, known only to the natives of the coun- 
 try, carrying the dismantled cannon piecemeal on their 
 
120 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 shoulders, or dragging them together with the neces- 
 sary ammunition after them by ropes. From eight 
 o'clock in the evening till one o'clock in the morning, 
 this heroic band were winding up the steep mountain 
 paths, making their way over rocks and snow-drifts, 
 beset with incredible difficulties and hardships, in a 
 cold winter's night ; while the rest of the troops at 
 the entrance of the pass were continually making 
 feigned attacks, to divert the attention of the Aus- 
 trians, and prevent the silence of the night betraying 
 the movements of the troops engaged in the ascent. 
 
 It was past midnight when the first cannon-shot 
 came thundering from the heights down into the dark 
 valley. This was the signal for a general attack. 
 Ten successive times did the troops stationed below 
 advance to the assault, braving death, while from 
 above the shot thundered into the depths of the 
 ravine. The Austrians witnessed with terror and dis- 
 may the destruction in their ranks : they abandoned 
 one intrenchment after another, fighting as they re- 
 treated, and in the utmost confusion attempted to 
 gain the opposite outlet of the pass. A great portion 
 of their artillery and a third part of the troops were 
 lost in this retreat ; the slaughter was unprecedented, 
 and the next morning Gorgey's vanguard passed 
 through the defile, which Guyon and his brave troops 
 had unclosed to them. 
 
 Schlik, who had considered Gorgey as buried alive, 
 drew his sabre in a fury, when a major brought him 
 the news to Eperies of the defeat at Branisko. " Dogs 
 that ye are — all of you dogs !" he exclaimed: "that 
 pass I would have held against a hundred thousand 
 men !" He instantly decamped from Eperies, to 
 escape Gorgey's superior forces, and took the route to 
 
ESCAPE OE SCHLIK. 121 
 
 Kaschau. There lie heard that Klapka was advancing, 
 who since the battle of Talja had lost sight of him ; 
 and he was now fixed in the same position as Gorgey 
 had been in the very evening before. But Schlik was 
 acquainted with the northern counties of Hungary, as 
 well as his enemy, and by masterly manoeuvres he 
 succeeded in escaping, by Jaszo, Bosenau, and Rima- 
 Szombat, to Losoncz, and subsequently effecting a 
 junction with the main Austrian army. Of the army 
 which he led from Galicia, not one-fourth returned, 
 and yet he might boldly claim the gratitude of the 
 emperor. No other of the Austrian generals would 
 have saved a single horse-shoe — probably not his own 
 person — from the hands of the Hungarians and the 
 defiles of the Carpathians. 
 
 The road to the Theiss was now open to Gorgey: 
 the Austrian corps of Gotz remained behind in the 
 mountains. Hammerstein, according to Austrian re- 
 ports, had the last few weeks been advancing vigor- 
 ously from Galicia, but had not yet made his ap- 
 pearance ; while the fourth Austrian corps, which 
 had been despatched from Pesth to support Schlik, 
 had already received orders to march back again, 
 for reasons which will be explained by the following 
 occurrences. 
 
 Perczel had advanced from Moor direct upon Pesth ; 
 and in order to refute the rumour of his defeat, which 
 had caused such consternation at Pesth, he reviewed 
 his troops in the market-place, wishing to prove that 
 he had not altogether lost above five hundred men. 
 We shall not stop to examine the accuracy of his cal- 
 culations any more than did the citizens of Pesth ; 
 they received him with hurrahs, and on the 4th of 
 January he again crossed the bridge to Buda, and 
 
122 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 thence proceeded into the counties of the Theiss : for 
 a long time no tidings were heard of him, and all was 
 comparatively quiet on the Xheiss. 
 
 Prince Windischgratz, who had meanwhile been 
 appointed field-marshal, had despatched the greater 
 part of his troops to the east ; the railroad was re- 
 opened to Szolnok, and this important point was 
 occupied by the Ottinger brigade. In this position 
 the Austrians were attacked on the 23d of January ; 
 and owing to the unpardonable negligence of their 
 commanders, they suffered one of the most signal 
 defeats during the whole war. The Csikoses were the 
 very men for such daring attacks, — bold and energetic 
 in their movements, and rushing into the very midst 
 of the enemy. They were close at hand before Szol- 
 nok, when the trumpet of the Austrian cuirassiers 
 sounded to horse; the generals barely saved them- 
 selves by flight, while the officers rode off, mostly with- 
 out saddle, and the common soldiers were cut down in 
 the stables before they could mount their horses : a 
 portion of the artillery and ammunition-wagons re- 
 mained imbedded in the morass. There was no battle, 
 but the Austrians sustained a greater loss than in 
 many a regular encounter, where the cannonade con- 
 tinues from morning to night. 
 
 The consternation was great at head-quarters ; Win- 
 dischgratz even meditated the possibility of a retreat 
 from Pesth, and despatched all the troops he could 
 spare toward Czegled, with a view to retard the 
 enemy's movements. At the same time, he recalled 
 the corps which he had sent northward in pursuit of 
 Gorgey and to support Schlik. The plans of the 
 Hungarians did not, however, at that time extend fur- 
 ther than Szolnok and the batteries of the Ottinger 
 
FALL OF LEOPOLSTADT AND ESSEG. 123 
 
 brigade : they again withdrew with their trophies 
 across the Theiss. 
 
 Simunich also returned from the north together 
 with the Gotz brigade, leaving only small garrisons in 
 the deserted towns. After the fall of Leopoldstadt, 
 (February 2d,) he had been ordered to assume the 
 chief command of the Komorn corps of observation, 
 which was greatly thinned by sickness and sorties, 
 and constantly required to be recruited. 
 
 The fortress of Esseg likewise capitulated to the 
 Austrians, who, under the Lieutenant Field-marshals 
 Theodorovich and Trebersburg, had invested it with a 
 considerable force. The lower town was taken by 
 storm, and Casimir Batthyanyi, the commandant of 
 the fortress, fled : favourable terms were granted to 
 the garrison, and they returned to their homes. 
 Thus in the course of a fortnight the Hungarians lost 
 two fortresses, which would afterward have proved 
 of great advantage to them. Austrian troops would 
 not have surrendered them so easily ; but the Hun- 
 garians always fought better in the open field than be- 
 hind walls and fortifications, and they often erected 
 these at a great cost, to abandon them again after a 
 slight struggle. This was especially the case at a later 
 period at Raab, and finally at Szegedin. Leopoldstadt 
 is in itself a place of no great consequence, although 
 it acquires importance as a point oVappui on the river 
 Waag ; added to which it is the nearest Hungarian 
 stronghold on the Austrian frontier. What would 
 Kossuth have given to possess this fortress, when 
 Gorgey, in May, 1849, sacrificed his Honveds by thou- 
 sands to establish his position on the right bank of 
 the Waag, after he had remorselessly allowed the 
 Austrians and Russians time to extend their forces ! 
 
124 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Had Esseg not been surrendered so quickly, where 
 would Jellachich, after Welden's retreat to Pressburg, 
 have found any position in the south which could have 
 disputed the possession of all the steamboats with the 
 Hungarians ? Austria owed this surrender to her 
 Lieutenant Field-marshal Count Nugent, who facili- 
 tated the terms of the capitulation. This is the most 
 advantageous treaty for Austria, made by an officer 
 highly educated, but slow and unskilful, during the 
 whole war. 
 
 Temeswar and Arad were better defended against 
 the Hungarians by the imperial generals Bukawina 
 and Berger. The plans of the former general — of 
 penetrating as far as Grosswardein and sharing ac- 
 tively in the operations from the south — were never 
 carried out ; but Rukawina heroically defended his 
 isolated post against Vetter and Vecsey, who were 
 better able to meet the hangman Haynau courage- 
 ously in the field (Arad, October 6th, 1849) than to 
 besiege fortresses. Berger held out with equal bra- 
 very at Arad for many months ; and had it not been 
 that his artillerymen were more mercifully disposed to 
 the town at their feet than himself, (they had their old 
 love-affairs and friends in the place,) there would not 
 have remained one stone upon another ; for the town 
 was bombarded no less than ten times from the for- 
 tress. This place deserves to be noted in the history 
 of Hungary as one of the most faithful and devoted 
 to the national cause. 
 
 Peterwardein, Komorn, Munkacs, still held out. 
 The first two may be considered impregnable. Be- 
 tween the Drave and the Danube — between the Da- 
 nube and the Theiss — to the right, to the left — now 
 pursuing, now pursued, conquering or defeated — espe- 
 
POSITION OF THE MAGYAR ARMY. 125 
 
 ciallj opposed to Nugent — Perczel and Damianich 
 marched to and fro with their corps, until at length 
 Gb'rgey, about the middle of February, drew their 
 forces toward his army, with a view to aid in striking 
 one great and general blow. They had to cover the 
 southern passages of the Theiss, and formed the ex- 
 treme left wing of the centre Magyar army, where 
 we shall afterward meet one of them, together with 
 Guyon, in the field against Jellachich. 
 
 Such was, in short, the position of the Hungarian 
 army at the end of February. With the exceptions 
 of the expeditions of Schlik and Gb'rgey in the north, 
 no operations of importance had taken place. Win- 
 dischgratz published bulletins of victories, equally de- 
 void of sense and truth. His army was scattered, 
 whereas the Hungarian generals had concentrated 
 their forces with a view to assume the offensive. 
 
126 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BEM HIS POSITION AT VIENNA AND ESCAPE — MEETING WITH 
 
 KOSSUTH TRANSYLVANIA BEM's ARMY AND ARTILLERY CAM- 
 PAIGN AGAINST THE POUR AUSTRIAN GENERALS AND THE 
 RUSSIANS. 
 
 Bem, the Polish general, had disappeared from the 
 stage of public life during the eighteen years of peace 
 that followed the insurrection in his native country. 
 On the field of Ostrolenka his fame as a great military 
 genius was established. Yet Europe had forgotten 
 him when the revolution of October occurred in 
 Vienna. He then presented himself to Messenhauser, 
 the commander-in-chief of the national guard, and 
 when a proclamation of his character and fame had 
 won the confidence of the people, he was invested 
 with the chief command of the insurgents. Bern's ex- 
 traordinary energy, courage, and presence of mind 
 excited the wonder of the Viennese, and they obeyed 
 his orders with a sort of awe. But all his exertions 
 of heroism and military skill were of no avail against 
 the numbers and discipline of the enemy, and the city 
 fell into the hands of the imperialists. Bem, with a 
 ministerial passport, lent him by Pulsky, left the city 
 when all hope had fled, and, meeting Kossuth on board 
 the steamboat at Komorn, accompanied him to Pesth. 
 At that place the Polish hero obtained permission to 
 attempt the conquest of Transylvania. 
 
 The first day of Bern's stay at Pesth, an attempt 
 
BEM. 127 
 
 was made on his life by a young Polish fanatic. He 
 was alone in his room when the man entered, and said, 
 " I believe I have the pleasure of addressing General 
 Bern ?" With these words he drew a pistol from his 
 pocket, and fired it at the general. Bern received a 
 shot in his cheek, and for a long time he wore a large 
 black plaster, which covered half his face, and was 
 certainly no improvement to his looks. The young 
 man escaped without punishment : he had been pos- 
 sessed with the fixed idea that Bern had betrayed 
 Vienna, and was now seeking to play the same game 
 in Hungary. 
 
 On the 26th of November, a large crowd was col- 
 lected before the hotel in which Bern was staying. At 
 the door stood a light carriage-and-four. It was said 
 that the general was setting out on a journey, and 
 there was a great curiosity to see him. He came 
 down, and, without heeding the eljens of the crowd, 
 he stepped into the carriage, taking with him a small 
 bundle, which constituted his whole baggage. Thus 
 did Bern sally forth, to conquer Transylvania. 
 
 In that country he found not a single fortified place 
 in the hands of the Hungarians ; but the more he felt 
 their importance, the more anxious he was to gain 
 possession of them. He found no infantry, but a 
 brave and resolute population, — no cavalry, but excel- 
 lent horsemen, — no army, but all the elements to 
 create one. A few companies of Szekler soldiers of 
 the frontier, and about seven thousand Honveds,with two 
 well-horsed batteries, were to form the nucleus around 
 which the genius of Bern was to assemble an army. 
 
 The great difficulty was not to obtain men ; the 
 warlike Szeklers came thronging in masses to join his 
 standard ; of horses, likewise, there was no want ; and 
 
128 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 arms could be procured at need. But the whole of 
 Transylvania may properly be called a fortress, en- 
 closed by lofty, romantic mountains, in the place of 
 walls, the few narrow passes in which are so many 
 gates of rock, incapable of being forced or destroyed 
 by the art of man. 
 
 The Austrians, it is true, had not more than twenty- 
 five thousand men, a force which would never have 
 been sufficient in any other country of similar extent 
 but of different natural features ; on the other hand, 
 they had only to defend the open side. There was 
 nothing to fear from the Bukowina ; on the east they 
 were backed by the principalities occupied by the Rus- 
 sians, and the Turks ventured at most to extend a 
 secret sympathy to the Hungarians. On the west, 
 however, where the country opens more on the large 
 plain of Hungary, the Cserna pursues a meandering 
 course, the Sebes flows from north to south, the wild 
 Maros winds through the defiles to the entrance of the 
 valley, the Aranyos appears in different places on its 
 way to join the Maros, and the rapid Szamos with its 
 numerous little tributaries flows through the northern 
 part in many thousand bendings, completing the net 
 of rivers which covers the country in the west. 
 
 Thus Transylvania lies like a splendid jewel enchased, 
 by magnificent mountains, whose summits are reflected 
 in the clear streams which they send forth, showing to 
 the inhabitants of the plain, in every grain of gold 
 they carry down, the treasures that lie buried in the 
 great mountainous district from which they descend. 
 Grold and silver, iron, lead and copper, salt and salt- 
 petre, are found, together with rocks and stones in 
 which the garnet, amethyst, and opal sparkle in the 
 most brilliant colours. 
 
bem's akmy. 129 
 
 Kossuth's selection of Bern to conquer Transylvania 
 is a proof that in this instance, as after the battle of 
 Schwechat, he possessed the discernment to choose the 
 most able man from among the multitude, — that he 
 understood equally the importance of the task to be 
 achieved, and who was the proper man to accomplish 
 it. Bern conquered Transylvania with the speed of 
 lightning ; he justified the confidence of Kossuth, and 
 confirmed the reputation he had won at Ostrolenka. 
 His campaigns against the Austrians and Russians 
 have been hitherto known more in the general features 
 of their extraordinary success than in the details of its 
 achievement, just as we are better acquainted with the 
 devastating phenomena of volcanoes than with their 
 elementary causes. We are in a position to give only 
 the general outline — the rest is left to future historians 
 to supply. 
 
 Besides the allied races that flocked to his standard, 
 many Poles, who had stealthily crossed the mountains, 
 sought service under Bern. The Polish corps and the 
 German legion — which latter was originally from two 
 to five hundred men strong, but had repeatedly to be 
 recruited — were the bravest of his troops. He knew 
 the valour of his countrymen of old ; the heroic courage 
 of the German youths he had still to learn and to ap- 
 preciate. Kossuth also sent him three complete bat- 
 teries, but without horses or attendance ; these he had 
 himself to provide. The artillery was the service for 
 which Bem's genius was peculiarly adapted, and his 
 chief manoeuvres were executed with this force, which, 
 terrible in its very nature, was much more fearful in 
 his hands. 
 
 The "rebel-chief" attached great importance to his 
 batteries, and although he occasionally intrusted his 
 
130 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 cavalry and infantry to subordinate officers, he always 
 superintended the service of his artillery himself. Pre- 
 vious to a battle he appointed the positions they were 
 to take up, and examined and levelled them, usually 
 with his own hands, whence he received from his Ger- 
 man legion the nickname of the « Pianoforte-player." 
 
 In general it may be remarked that there was any 
 thing but a jocose spirit in his corps : the quiet, grave, 
 and reserved demeanour of the general extended its 
 influence to his officers : every one was eagerly on the 
 watch to miss nothing, to forget nothing ; for Bern was 
 a strict disciplinarian, and never showed indulgence to 
 any fault or oversight. During the first few days he 
 held the command, he ordered two young Hungarians 
 of good family to be shot, for seeking to continue 
 their Jurat life in the camp, and playing at cards while 
 on duty at the outpost. Ever since this example, the 
 rest yielded implicit obedience to the iron spirit of the 
 general, who, when facing the enemy, saw in the man 
 only the obedient soldier. Hence it was, that the 
 young sprigs of nobility usually preferred service in 
 other corps, where more consideration was paid to 
 their pedigree, and camp life wore a more cheerful 
 aspect. But although Yekey, one of Bern's aides-de- 
 camp, never rode to battle without new white kid 
 gloves, polished boots, and a silver-mounted riding- 
 whip, he was not a whit - the less intrepid for this whim, 
 and the numerous wounds which this young elegant 
 received sufficiently attest his valour. 
 
 After spending four weeks in completing and or- 
 ganizing his army, Bern advanced on the 20th of 
 December, and was in Klausenburg at the time when 
 the imperialists entered Pesth. His first advance was 
 overpowering : Lieutenant-fieldmarshal Wardener was 
 
bbm's operations. 131 
 
 driven back to Klausenburg, and Colonel Urban to the 
 Bukowina. Klausenburg was taken at the first assault ; 
 Urban, who, in conjunction with Malkowsky, had again 
 advanced up to Bistriz, was a second time forced back 
 into the Bukowina. Bistriz, Klausenburg, Thorda, 
 with the surrounding country, were all occupied, and 
 established as a gathering-point for men and arms of 
 the Szeklers. In the course of a few days two Austrian 
 corps and three generals were driven out of the coun- 
 try, and the passes were secured, so as to oppose their 
 return. 
 
 Bern now marched southwards into the Saxon land, 
 where Puchner and the German population, who had 
 been called to arms, were expecting him. On he ad- 
 vanced, overthrowing every obstacle that opposed his 
 march from Thorda to Badnoth and Megyes. In the 
 latter town the fugitives made a stand, in order to re- 
 treat to Hermannstadt, after a short but murderous 
 conflict. Here Puchner was awaiting him with the 
 whole of his forces. Bern's troops attacked him, and 
 fought from morning till noon for the possession of 
 this capital, which was heroically defended by the 
 Saxon national guards. Bern was compelled to retreat, 
 and took up his head-quarters at Stolzenburg, two 
 German miles from Hermannstadt. 
 
 On the 4th of February, Puchner assumed the offen- 
 sive. The two armies met at Salzburg ; Bern's artil- 
 lery, which he had posted on the line of hills, repulsed 
 all the attacks of the enemy, who again retreated for. 
 shelter to Hermannstadt. Bern followed them, re- 
 newed the battle a second time before the city with an 
 enemy whose force was three times as strong as his 
 own, and was repulsed with considerable loss. 
 
 He returned by the same road, but did not halt until 
 
132 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 reaching Szasz-Varos, in order not to have the strongly- 
 fortified imperial castle of Karlsburg in his rear. But 
 here likewise he was unable to stop, and marched to 
 Deva, destroying the bridge over the Strehl, after he 
 had passed. 
 
 Close to this bridge lies the village of Piski. On the 
 9th of February, the Austrians and Hungarians fought 
 one of the bloodiest battles of this campaign, for the 
 possession of this village and bridge. Never had 
 Puchner's columns advanced to the attack with greater 
 valour and perseverance, — never had the Hungarians, 
 Poles, and the German legion faced them with such 
 determination and cool contempt of death. Bern was 
 victorious. An anecdote is told of a stratagem practised 
 by the Hungarians, who are said to have approached 
 the enemy with white flags, and then suddenly to have 
 parted like the waters of the Red Sea for the passage 
 of the Israelites ; while through the alley thus formed 
 by the troops, Bern's cannons swept down whole ranks 
 of the Austrians. This story, however, is so inconsist- 
 ent with all usual or practicable field manoeuvres, that 
 it must be rejected as untrue. It would be impossible 
 for large columns, close enough to mask any batteries, 
 to march actually up to the enemy's front in the midst 
 of battle, and then suddenly to divide and march off 
 in two opposite directions, opening a passage for the 
 play of the artillery in their rear. Bern's peculiar 
 tactics, which were to employ his cannon against the 
 enemy less in flank than in front, may have given rise 
 to this story. 
 
 The Austrians here learned for the first time the 
 superiority of their antagonist's tactics, and the effect 
 of the concentrated fire of his artillery ; their storming 
 columns, notwithstanding all their valour, were swept 
 
RUSSIANS ENTER TRANSYLVANIA. 133 
 
 off before this sea of fire and hail shot : the Bianchi 
 regiment was overthrown and cut to pieces. Piles of 
 dead bodies, literally, covered the field of battle ; and 
 Puchner was compelled to retreat with great loss. 
 He retired to Hermannstadt : his right wing was no 
 doubt glad to make a halt at Karlsburg, for the 
 impetuous attacks of the Szekler hussars had cut them 
 off from the main corps. 
 
 Eight days before the battle of Piski, the first 
 Russian columns set foot on the soil of Transylvania. 
 Cronstadt was garrisoned with 6000 men, and Hermann- 
 stadt with 8000. General Luders and Freitag were 
 ready to march on the first invitation ; so that there 
 can exist no doubt that they received orders direct 
 from St. Petersburgh. The fact that the invitation 
 was made in the name of the threatened towns of the 
 Saxon-land, and accepted, can be regarded at the 
 present day only as the effect on Austria and Russia 
 of the suspicious aspect of French and English diplo- 
 macy. It is now quite superfluous to adduce proofs 
 that the Vienna cabinet, in spite of all their protesta- 
 tions, had at that very time already entered upon 
 negotiations with Russia and sought her assistance. 
 That this was insufficient, and only amused Europe 
 with the spectacle of a Russian defeat, is a fact which 
 the czar will never forgive either Luders or Bern. 
 Even the issue of the war, to which the colossal armies 
 of Russia so largely contributed, can never wipe out 
 the first disgrace at Hermannstadt. 
 
 The news that Russia had at length thrown her 
 sword into the balance caused the greatest excitement 
 throughout Europe. All parties were alarmed at the 
 new alliance entered into by the emperors, although 
 it had for a long time been anticipated and talked of 
 
134 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 in every part of the world ; all parties crossed them- 
 selves with a devout shudder before such a prospect 
 of the restoration of peace ; and only those anointed 
 heads, who live in the belief that they are superior to 
 the rest of the world, hailed the long-desired champion 
 of absolutism with silent satisfaction and good wishes. 
 
 On the other hand, the confidence of the imperial 
 Austrian generals in Transylvania, which had forsaken 
 them in the last encounter with Bern, now revived. 
 Colonel Urban ventured out from his intrenchments 
 at Bistriz, with a view to annihilate the Hungarian 
 Colonel Ritzko and his little band. Although he did 
 not succeed, Ritzko was driven from his position at 
 Baiersdorf, and fell severely wounded into the hands 
 of the enemy on the 18th of February. Urban him- 
 self was obliged to return immediately to Bistriz. 
 There he remained, until Bern drove him back to the 
 Bukowina, from whence, in company with Malkowski, 
 he had an opportunity of seeing the last Austrians 
 and Russians turn their backs on the fair land of 
 Transylvania. 
 
 Bern now for the third time attacked Hermannstadt, 
 and came up with the Austrians at Megyes, (Mediasch.) 
 The battle lasted (March 3d) from morning till late 
 at night, and ended' with the defeat of the Hungarians. 
 They retreated toward Maros Vasarhely, the Austrians 
 quickly following up their advantage. But whenever 
 the Austrian generals endeavoured to execute rapid 
 manoeuvres, they invariably failed. While intending 
 to pursue Bern, they followed only one division of his 
 army ; Bern himself, by a masterly flank march, turned 
 from Megyes along the river Kukullo toward Muhlen- 
 bach, and coming from the west appeared before 
 Hermannstadt on the 14th. 
 
Bern, 
 
HERMANNSTADT TAKEN. 137 
 
 The garrison left in this town consisted of 8000 
 Eussians and 2000 Austrians : Bern had 9000 men and 
 the requisite artillery. With this force he stormed 
 the town, after having in vain summoned the garrison 
 to surrender. The defence of the Russians was not 
 such as to inspire the inhabitants with any great 
 respect for the black eagle : after a short fight, they 
 abandoned the place in a disorderly flight. Bern took 
 several hundred Russian prisoners and eight cannon, 
 and sent them to Debreczin, to show Kossuth that the 
 Russians were mortal like other men. 
 
 "The taking of Hermannstadt," he wrote to the 
 government, " was of inestimable advantage to us ; a 
 large quantity of weapons fell into our hands, while 
 the life-nerve of the enemy has been cut through." 
 
 The hubbub raised by the official and semi-official 
 Austrian journals about deeds of horror perpetrated 
 by Bern's troops in Hermannstadt was probably in- 
 tended to drown any reproaches on the defeat of the 
 double eagle. 
 
 The "Wiener Zeitung" itself afterward stated, that 
 Bern maintained the strictest discipline among his 
 troops, and ordered the first thief to be hung in the 
 market-place, as a warning to the rest. In fact, ample 
 proof is afforded that Hermannstadt suffered less than 
 Vienna, Raab, Zombor, and numerous other towns 
 which fell into the hands of the Austrians. 
 
 From Hermannstadt Bern sent the two following 
 despatches to Debreczin, which throw the best light 
 on the course of his next operations, and may pro- 
 perly be given here. 
 
 « March 15th. — In my despatch I had the happi- 
 ness to mention, that I had sent a corps against the 
 Rothenthurm Pass, in order as effectually as possible 
 
138 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR, 
 
 to cut off the communication of the enemy with Wal- 
 lachia. The division could not however advance far, 
 as the whole Austrian army was in Freck, and conse- 
 quently separated only by a mountain-ridge from the 
 defile, and thus my troops were threatened on the 
 flank as they advanced. Nevertheless I got posses- 
 sion of this defile by a circuitous movement ; and I 
 shall not only defend this, but at the same time press 
 the enemy in the direction of Cronstadt, from whence 
 they will have great difficulty to pass the Carpathians 
 in case they endeavour to fly to Wallachia. 
 
 " I shall commence these military operations this 
 very day, etc. etc. Bem." 
 
 " Head-quarters, Rothenthurm, 16th of March. — 
 My operations yesterday, for driving the Russians from 
 the Rothenthurm Pass, were crowned with such success, 
 that the same night at eleven o'clock, we dislodged 
 the Russians from this strong position. The 15th of 
 March, the birthday of national freedom, could not 
 be celebrated more worthily. At five o'clock this 
 afternoon the Russians took to the wildest flight, heels 
 over head. Four Austrian generals, Puchner, Pfars- 
 man, Graser, and Jovich, have fled with three compa- 
 nies to Wallachia. I have myself very carefully in- 
 spected the Rothenthurm Pass, and made such dis- 
 positions, that the Russians will find a difficulty in 
 re-attempting to force their way through it. I have 
 despatched another division of my army in pursuit of 
 the Austrians, who, according to the reports given by 
 the prisoners we have taken, have fled dispirited and 
 in disorder toward Cronstadt. Their main force is 
 at Fogarasch, but the rearguard has only just quitted 
 Freck. The enemy broke down the bridge over the 
 Olt behind them, which checked our pursuit for a 
 
bem's wondekful exploits. • 139 
 
 time. Now, after the bridge has been restored, I 
 shall continue the pursuit with all possible vigour. I 
 hope to take Cronstadt in the course of three or four 
 days, whereby the imperial Austrian army will be in 
 part annihilated, in part dispersed, and at all events 
 rendered incapable of disturbing the internal rest of 
 this country. It will then be an easier task to reduce 
 to obedience the single Wallachian bands, which still 
 make their appearance. 
 
 " Postscript. — After the taking of Cronstadt I shall 
 immediately set out with a division for Hungary. 
 
 «Bem." 
 
 Four days later Cronstadt was in his hands. The 
 Russians fled through the Tombs Pass, and the Aus- 
 trians through the Tbrzburg Pass, into Wallachia, — 
 twenty-one thousand men strong, according to official 
 reports, with three thousand horses and fifty cannons, 
 the Russians not included. 
 
 Thus was Transylvania, with the exception of Carls- 
 burg, in the hands of the Hungarians. Bern had ac- 
 complished the most astonishing and incredible exploit. 
 With a newly-raised army, but just come from drill, 
 and which never equalled the numerical force of the 
 enemy, he had in the space of ten weeks defeated, 
 and driven out of the country, five corps of the enemy, 
 twice traversed the mountain-ranges from north to 
 south, seized a great number of strong positions, taken 
 cannon, arms, and horses, made about five thousand 
 prisoners, occupied the passes of the country from the 
 interior, and at the same time raised and organized an 
 army comparable to any in Europe. 
 
140 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DEMBINSKI AND GORGEY — BATTLE OF KAPOLNA CAMPAIGN OF APRIL 
 
 — DAMIANICH IN SZOLNOK — THE BATTLES OF HATYAN, ASZOD, 
 TAPJO-BICSKE, AND ISASZEG — KOSSUTH AND GORGEY AT GODOLLO — 
 WAITZEN AND NAGY-SARLO — WELDEN ASSUMES THE COMMAND. 
 
 Another Polish hero and military genius now came 
 to the aid of the Hungarians in the person of Dem- 
 binski. This general was at one time the idol of his 
 countrymen, and considered a commander of extraor- 
 dinary skill. His previous history will be found in 
 another part of this work. 
 
 At the instigation of Count Ladislaus Teleki, he left 
 Paris, and repaired to Hungary by way of Galicia, 
 through the county of Zips. His arrival was imme- 
 diately published, with a sketch of his biography, in 
 the " Kozlony," (Advertiser.) The other Hungarian 
 newspapers copied this account, and the news reached 
 Gorgey, (who, on his expeditions into the northern 
 counties, was often cut off from any direct communica- 
 tion with the government,) that Dembinski had been 
 appointed by Kossuth commander-in-chief, — Dembin- 
 ski, who was on all sides called the first strategist of 
 his age. This was enough to excite Gorgey's jealousy: 
 he was Dembinski's enemy even before he had made 
 his acquaintance. 
 
 After the storming of the Branisko Pass, there was 
 no further obstacle to Gorgey's joining the main army; 
 he met Klapka, in whose head-quarters he made the 
 
gorgey's treachery. 141 
 
 acquaintance of Dembinski. The Polish general had 
 been for some time at Debreczin, where he consulted 
 with Kossuth and the principal generals on the plan 
 for the spring campaign. He fully approved of the 
 defensive manoeuvres on the Theiss, as they had been 
 commenced and executed throughout the last two 
 months, and only awaited Gorgey's arrival to assume 
 the offensive. 
 
 Gorgey was received with that respectful deference 
 which his talents had a right to claim. Dembinski, 
 above all others, was capable of appreciating the mas- 
 terly execution of the last manoeuvres of the young 
 general. But Gorgey was reserved, and surrounded 
 himself with a party who were ever after actively op- 
 posed to Kossuth and Dembinski. 
 
 This disunion was for the first time manifest in the 
 battle of Kapolna. Dembinski had made the plan of 
 the battle, and commanded the centre in his own per- 
 son ; Damianich commanded the left wing ; Gorgey 
 with his picked troops the right. He had raised ob- 
 jections to Dembinski's dispositions in the general 
 council of war, but he yielded to the majority of 
 voices, and took up his appointed post. Had he per- 
 sisted in his objections, and in withholding his assent to 
 the plan of battle, he would have acted more honour- 
 ably. But he led on his troops, merely to let them 
 figure as spectators ; the entire right wing, upon whose 
 attack the plan principally rested, remained inactive, 
 and restricted itself to a defensive position : the troops 
 of Damianich and Dembinski in vain stood the fire of 
 the Austrians, and were forced to abandon the field 
 to the enemy. The loss on both sides may have been 
 equally great, (the accounts on this point are very con- 
 tradictory,) but the Hungarians lost the battle, and 
 
142 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 were obliged to retreat toward the Theiss. This was 
 on the 26th, 27th, and 28th of February. 
 
 Much blood flowed on both sides, and in vain ; for 
 Windischgratz was not skilful enough to follow up his 
 advantage after the battle of Kapolna. He sent a 
 pompous bulletin to Vienna, whence it was forwarded 
 to Olmutz. This was the long-expected signal for the 
 Schwarzenberg-Stadion ministry. The battle of Ka- 
 polna gave no decisive turn to the Hungarian war, 
 but assisted the octroyee constitution of the 4th of 
 March through the pangs of birth, and annihilated the 
 diet at Kremsier. After such a victorious bulletin as 
 that which was issued by the chancery of the field- 
 marshal, there was nothing more to be feared from 
 Hungary and the other provinces. The battle was 
 lost through Gorgey : the gain of Austria was a paper 
 charter, and the advantage of being thenceforth go- 
 verned by ordinances. 
 
 Great confusion reigned in the camp of the Magyars. 
 Kossuth trembled at the consequences of such a divi- 
 sion among the chief generals, which must peril every 
 thing. He exerted himself to the utmost to reconcile 
 the opponents; but each one adduced proofs, jeasons, 
 witnesses, for the correctness of his conduct. Kossuth, 
 who on this occasion had for the first time a glance into 
 the fathomless abyss of ambition which Gorgey con- 
 cealed under a quiet, simple, unpretending exterior, 
 took him aside, and said to him as friend to friend, 
 " Brother, confess to me what thou desirest and wouldst 
 have. Let me into the secret of thy wishes, and I 
 will labour to satisfy them. Wouldst thou be dictator 
 of Hungary ? thou shalt be it through me. Wouldst 
 thou possess the crown of power — thou shalt have it, — 
 only save our country !" 
 
DEMBINSKI — GORGEY. 143 
 
 Gorgey protested that his only wish, his only prayer 
 was for the welfare of Hungary ; and for this reason 
 he could not consent to. intrust it to foreign hands, who 
 were less formed for the task, &c. 
 
 The story that Gorgey, at his first interview with 
 Dembinski after the battle of Kapolna, said to him, 
 " General, were I Dembinski, I would order Gorgey 
 to be shot!" appears, after the above authenticated 
 statement, to be a fiction, which, like many others of 
 this period, went the round of the world. 
 
 It is equally untrue that Dembinski, in consequence 
 of these dissensions at Debreczin, was thrown into 
 prison. His opponents, the friends of Gorgey, would 
 like to have seen him summoned before a court-mar- 
 tial ; but Kossuth, to the very last, never withdrew 
 his high opinion of this well-tried man. Dembinski 
 behaved in the same high-minded and noble manner 
 to Gorgey as on a former occasion toward Skrzyneki. 
 From his considerate conduct, he had then to share 
 in the disfavour which Skrzyneki had incurred with 
 the patriots ; in the present instance he voluntarily 
 retired in the background, and resigned the chief com- 
 mand to Gorgey. The latter, in conjunction with 
 Dembinski, Guy on, Klapka, and Damianich, fought 
 the following battles. They were conducted with 
 youthful ardour, circumspection, great strategical skill, 
 and well-founded confidence in the valour of the Hun- 
 garian troops : they have immortalized Gorgey. 
 
 After the battle of Kapolna the Hungarian army 
 again retreated toward the Theiss, and during the 
 next few weeks there was a suspension of the military 
 operations of the two main armies. The prince had 
 moved back his head-quarters to Buda on the 5th of 
 March, with a view to co-operate in the projected 
 
144 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 organization of the country. He considered his pre- 
 sence more necessary there than in the camp ; for, 
 notwithstanding the imposing force which he had seen 
 assembled before him within the last few days, his 
 pride was unwilling to acknowledge the enemy's supe- 
 riority and the impending danger. His generals 
 shared this unpardonable contempt of the enemy, and 
 thus it happened that on the same day, (March 5th,) 
 the Karger brigade, through the unaccountable remiss- 
 ness of their commander, was surprised at Szolnok by 
 Damianich, and suffered a loss still more terrible than 
 that of the Ottinger brigade, of which we have before 
 spoken. 
 
 Karger was superseded; Szolnok was again occu- 
 pied with a stronger force, and the field-marshal pre- 
 pared, as he did after every defeat, to assume the 
 offensive. The Gotz brigade was advanced to Tokay, 
 Jablonowsky was posted at Miskolcz, Schlik in and 
 around Erlau, and the main body of the army was 
 distributed from that point to Szolnok. On the ex- 
 treme right was posted the ban ; but the head-quarters 
 were in Buda, and the field-marshal himself did not 
 advance to Godollo till the 3d of April. 
 
 On the 23d of March, the day of the battle of No- 
 vara, the Hungarians began to advance slowly from 
 all sides. The first blow was struck against Baja in 
 the south, and the passage of the Danube forced at 
 that point. In the course of this campaign Baja was 
 alternately taken and lost ten times : on the 1st of 
 April it was finally abandoned by the Austrians, who 
 did not return until supported by the Russians. 
 
 The forces of the Hungarians were now deployed 
 along the whole line of the Theiss, from Tokay to 
 Szegedin. All the operations that had been planned 
 
THE HUNGARIANS ADVANCE. 145 
 
 and prepared on the further side, were to be carried 
 into execution on this side of that river. The gene- 
 ral advance of the troops commenced from east to 
 west, and overthrew every obstacle that opposed their 
 progress. No mention has hitherto been made either 
 of the Hungarian or Austrian bulletins of victory; 
 they were both uncertain in their statements, and no 
 decisive result could be gathered from them. From 
 the moment, however, when the entire Hungarian 
 army — both the corps on either wing and in the cen- 
 tre — simultaneously assumed the offensive, the plan 
 of the campaign, its conduct, and consequences became 
 at once manifest. The bulletins of Prince Windisch- 
 gratz are no less amusing than remarkable in point 
 of style ; as relates to the history of the campaign, 
 they have not a tittle of importance. 
 
 From the end of March until the 10th of April, — 
 that is to say, from the beginning of the main attack 
 upon the imperial army until the taking of Waitzen, — 
 the Hungarians fought their most famous battles under 
 the command of Gorgey. Properly speaking, these 
 engagements constituted only one great buttle, which 
 lasted fourteen days, and in which the ground was 
 every day shifted; every hour the Hungarians ad- 
 vanced toward Pesth, every hour they won point after 
 point from the Austrians in hand-to-hand fighting. 
 These battles, which began at Szolnok, and had first 
 a short suspension behind Dunakess, which comprise 
 the glorious days of Nagy-Sarlo, Pacs, and Komorn, 
 terminated with the taking of Pesth, the relief of 
 Komorn, and the complete retreat of the imperi- 
 alists. 
 
 Against Windischgratz, Gotz, Schlik, and Jablo- 
 nowsky, were arrayed Gorgey, Dembinski, Repassy, 
 
 10 
 
146 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 and Klapka; to the Croat Jellachich was opposed 
 the Serbian Damianich. 
 
 On the 2d of April, the Csorich division, which was 
 concentrated in Waitzen, set out for Hatvan. It came 
 too late ; Gyongyos was already in the hands of the 
 enemy. Schlik, who had been stationed at Hatvan, 
 was unable to save his corps from a complete defeat ; 
 Captain Kalchberg was his protecting angel, and with 
 a few companies defended the bridge at Hatvan, over 
 the river Zagyva, thus covering the retreat of the 
 fugitives. Csorich, who had been ordered to support 
 him, had no course left but to retire by the same road 
 he had come. Jellachich, who was to have advanced 
 to Hatvan with the right wing, in order to maintain 
 the connection with Schlik, was overtaken by Dami- 
 anich at Czegled, and driven back to Alberti; but 
 Schlik could not regain a firm footing until he reached 
 Godollo. 
 
 A second time Jellachich received the command to 
 move north toward the main army ; a second time 
 Damianich defeated him at Tapjo-Bicske, and threat- 
 ened Windischgratz on his right flank, while the ban 
 ran the risk of being completely cut off. Jellachich 
 fought heroically at the head of his Croats, amid the 
 thickest shower of balls, but the result proved that he 
 did not remain master of the field at Tapjo-Bicske, as 
 announced in the thirty-third bulletin of the Aus- 
 trians. 
 
 The prince, meanwhile, (on the 3d,) reached Go- 
 dollo ; he brought all his disposable reinforcements 
 with him, and moved toward Aszod, as Gorgey made 
 a show of turning aside toward Iklad. At Aszod a 
 murderous battle was fought, which ended in the com- 
 plete defeat of the Austrians, who retreated toward 
 
BATTLES OP TAPJO-BICSKE AND ISASZEG. 147 
 
 Godollo. Tapjo-Bicske, Isaszeg, Godollo, and Aszod 
 formed in succession, from south to north, four of the 
 finest imaginable positions for awaiting the attack of 
 a superior enemy with a certainty of victory. The 
 ground of Godollo, intersected by a large, wooded 
 chain of hills, offers to an army all those invaluable 
 points oVappui which are of greater importance than 
 thousands of troops, — heights for the artillery, woods 
 for the sharp-shooters, plains for the infantry and 
 cavalry ; in short, no strategist could have pictured to 
 himself any ground more richly favoured, according to 
 all the rules of art and science. Isaszeg and Tapjo- 
 Bicske are no less important. 
 
 Both parties knew the value of these positions ; the 
 Austrian generals called out their artillery, their 
 excellent riflemen, and their best cavalry regiments ; 
 the Hungarian commanders summoned the bravest of 
 their Honveds and hussars to the field of battle. 
 
 The battle of Tapjo-Bicske, on the 4th of April, 
 lasted from six o'clock in the morning until nine at 
 night, and ended in the most disorderly flight of the 
 Croats to Pesth. 
 
 The battle of Isaszeg, on the 6th, was the bloodiest 
 of the series. Whole ranks of Honveds were cut down 
 by the Austrian artillery, but new ones sprang up as 
 if out of the earth, and continued the fight. The hus- 
 sars performed incredible acts of valour. Thus only 
 could Isaszeg be won. Aszod had fallen, and Go- 
 dollo, the most dreaded, was now abandoned by the 
 imperialists after an unimportant resistance. 
 
 Kossuth and Gorgey embraced : "Now for the first 
 time it is clear what the army is able to perform, — 
 now Hungary is saved !" ' 
 
 Kossuth, followed by many representatives of the 
 
148 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 army, remained for some days in the castle of Count 
 Grassalkowich at Gb'db'llo, where Windischgratz had 
 repeatedly taken up his head-quarters, and slept in 
 the very bed which the prince had left on the morning 
 of the same day. This is a known fact. The follow- 
 ing circumstances, however, are probably less known, 
 and might seem to place the relationship between Gor- 
 gey and Kossuth in a more friendly light, were it not 
 for the darker shadows of later events. 
 
 On the day when Godollo lodged Prince Windisch- 
 gratz and Kossuth, several spies came, bringing the 
 news that a strong corps of the Austrians was in 
 movement in the immediate vicinity, and that the place 
 was not sufficiently protected from a surprise. Kos- 
 suth communicated this to Gorgey ; but the latter 
 quieted his fears, and insisted on sleeping at the door 
 of Kossuth's room for his friend's greater security. Not 
 until after many entreaties was Gorgey prevailed on to 
 spend the night on a camp-bed in the apartment. 
 
 Kossuth now issued a proclamation, calling upon the 
 country to look forward with hope and confidence to 
 the future. Prince Windischgratz, on the other hand, 
 despatched a bulletin to Vienna, the composition of 
 which is so remarkable that some passages deserve to 
 be immortalized. 
 
 "A glorious engagement," he says, "which Lieu- 
 tenant-fieldmarshal Baron Jellachich fought at Tapjo- 
 Bicske has convinced the fieldmarshal of the supe- 
 riority of the enemy, especially in light cavalry, in a 
 completely open country ; and he has accordingly given 
 the command, in order to draw together his reserves 
 following from all sides, to unite the first and third 
 corps as well as the second, which has been hitherto 
 posted in reserve near Waitzen, in a concentrated di- 
 
BULLETIN OF WINDISCHGRATZ. 149 
 
 rection toward Pesth, until this city is surrounded in 
 a large circle, stretching from Palota and Keresztur 
 to Soroksar. The enemy followed this movement in 
 great haste," &c. &c. 
 
 Never did a "glorious engagement" bring more 
 miserable fruits to an army than the conviction of its 
 own weakness. Never was a retreat more gently ex- 
 pressed than by the words " to draw together his re- 
 serves, following from all sides, in a concentrated 
 direction toward Pesth." Never was a flight mentioned 
 in more delicate terms than " the enemy followed the 
 movement in great haste." 
 
 The merit of this masterly piece of composition be- 
 longs to Lieutenant-fieldmarshal Baron Welden, com- 
 mandant of Vienna, whose literary talents were so 
 often assailed in an unmerited, spiteful, and invidious 
 manner. 
 
 In strict accordance with this bulletin, the imperial 
 army was drawn up in a line from Palota to Keresztur 
 and Soroksar, — consequently in the immediate vicinity 
 of Pesth, with a view to cover that city. The road to 
 Waitzen was guarded by the brigades of Gotz and 
 Jablonowsky. 
 
 Whatever reproaches may have been directed against 
 Prince Windischgratz for his conduct of the war in 
 Hungary up to this time, his chief error was, that after 
 his retreat from Godollo, he contented himself with 
 encamping before Pesth, and concentrating there his 
 whole force, without sufficiently covering the road to 
 Waitzen. This is the most unpardonable because the 
 most palpable error, since no apprehensions were en- 
 tertained for the safety of Pesth so long as the guns 
 remained mounted on tire ramparts of Buda ; not a 
 single Honved would have set foot in the fauxbourgs 
 
150 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 of Pesth, from a fear lest that beautiful city would 
 immediately have been laid in ruins; the occupation 
 of Pesth without Buda could be of no importance to 
 the Hungarian general, and it was clear as day that 
 the road from Waitzen and the relief of Komorn were 
 the main objects of the whole movement. 
 
 The Austrian general seemed struck with blindness. 
 Day after day the Hungarians made feigned attacks 
 along the extended front of his af-my, retreating as 
 soon as the Austrian artillery approached within 
 range of them. For a whole week Windischgratz 
 allowed himself to be duped by Aulich, who kept an 
 entire army occupied with his insignificant division, 
 having watch-fires lighted up at night for miles around 
 by the peasants, in order to mislead the enemy as to 
 the extent of his encampment. * 
 
 At length came the fearful news that Waitzen had 
 been taken. Old Gotz had fallen in the engagement 
 before the town on the 9th of April : Jablonowsky's 
 brigade, too weak to offer any effectual resistance, was 
 repulsed ; Gorgey was in possession of the left bank 
 of the Danube, and threatened to cross to the right 
 bank by the island of St. Andra, (April 11th.) 
 
 Windischgratz now perceived the danger of his 
 position ; his head-quarters were shifted from the 
 " Swan" in the Kerepess-street to Buda, and Jella- 
 chich quitted the hotel of the " Two Lions" in the 
 Soroksar-street. The whole army marched to the right 
 bank of the Danube ; and had it not been for Welden's 
 opportune arrival, and Gorgey's systematic opposition 
 to the plans of the council of war, neglecting to occupy 
 the island of Csepel, and pursue the Austrians unin- 
 termittingly from Komorn, Wei den would never have 
 escaped to Pressburg, nor Jellachich to Esseg. 
 
GENERAL WELDEN. 151 
 
 But the route along the Danube toward the south 
 was thus opened, and Kossuth's definite orders were 
 disregarded by-Gorgey. The ban led his corps, with 
 all the steamboats that were lying before Buda, down 
 the river : not a single shot was fired to arrest their 
 flight, and they reached Esseg in safety with their 
 ammunition and artillery. 
 
 On the 17th of April, the new commander-in-chief, 
 Baron Welden, arrived at Gran, and there made his 
 dispositions. On the same day Windischgratz quitted 
 the Hungarian soil. 
 
 The Austrian army has at all events cause to regard 
 Welden as their saviour, for he extricated it from the 
 fatal position in which Windischgratz had left it, and 
 led it" back safely to the frontier. His first glance was 
 decisive, — his first command was a retreat. No alter- 
 native was left, and Welden has the merit of having at 
 once taken the necessary course, without seeking first, 
 as is too frequently the case with new-beginners, to 
 win a little glory on the field of battle. 
 
 The last two battles in the district of the Upper 
 Danube, were fought at Szony and Nagy-Sarlo. The 
 former reduced the Austrian main army under Welden 
 to that disorganized condition, that pitch of demorali- 
 zation which renders the largest armies liable to speedy 
 destruction : the second battle annihilated at a blow 
 the army of reserve under Wohlgemuth so completely, 
 that its scattered remains did not reunite for a long 
 time afterward. Engagements also took place at Pacs, 
 and on the river Ipoly ; but Wohlgemuth's defeat was 
 the final and decisive blow : Komorn was lost to Wel- 
 den, 
 
152 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SIEGE OF KOMORN — RETREAT OF THE AUSTRIANS — FIRST STORM- 
 ING OF BUDA-PESTH — GORGET — SECOND STORMING — BOMBARD- 
 MENT— -FINAL STORMING. 
 
 Komorn is the key of Hungary: this is a phrase 
 continually repeated, but perhaps as often misunder- 
 stood. An army may be in possession of Komorn 
 without being master of Hungary, but can never be 
 master of Hungary without Komorn. It commands 
 the Danube not far from its entrance into the country, 
 and has the power of preventing the passage of any 
 vessels from Monostor to the Black Sea, thus stopping 
 the main artery of the country at its source. 
 
 The old fortress lies in the pointed angle formed by 
 the confluence of the two branches of the Danube, at 
 the extreme eastern point of the island of Schiitt ; in 
 front of this lies the new fortress and the town ; and 
 in a large semicircle before the town are situated the 
 extensive works which sufficiently cover the open side 
 on the west. This is called the Palatinal line, — an 
 extent of ramparts, which, at the instigation of the 
 late Palatine, was completed to a length of three thou- 
 sand fathoms, at a cost of some millions of florins, ac- 
 cording to the rules of modern science. These ram- 
 parts protect both the old and new fortress, together 
 with the town, on the land side, leaving large open 
 spaces between these works and the. town, serviceable 
 for encampments, parades, reviews, and pasturage. 
 
KOMORN. 153 
 
 More to the north, as far as Gutta, where the Waag 
 joins the upper arm of the Danube, a strong crown- 
 work prevents any hostile attempt to pass the river. 
 Other works — bastions of three, four, and five lines — 
 cover the old fortress on the river side. But a still 
 stronger protection than these artificial works is af- 
 forded by the Danube in connection with the rivers 
 Dudvoga, Penna, Waag, and Neutra, the embouchures 
 of which form an intricate net of rivers, extending 
 over a tract of inaccessible marshes. In addition to 
 all this defence, a fortified t&te-de-pont on the right 
 bank, opposite to the town, was converted by the Hun- 
 garians into a second fortress by means of extensive 
 ramparts ; and an island, formed of alluvial deposit in 
 the middle of the stream between this tete-de-pont and 
 the old fortress, was taken advantage of by the military 
 engineer. 
 
 Maitheny, Torok, Lenkey, Guyon, Klapka, have all 
 in turn held the military command in Komorn. These 
 men were duly impressed with a feeling of the sacred- 
 ness of their duty, the importance of their position, of 
 friendship for Kossuth, and a conviction of the right 
 of their cause. None of them held an unlimited com- 
 mand : a council of war had to decide on important 
 points, and the oommander-in-chief for the time being 
 had to yield to the majority. During the first siege, 
 this council was composed of Kostolany, Messleny, 
 Torbk, Gerlond, Jarossy, Counts Paul Esterhazy and 
 Otto Zichy, Baron Jessenak, and others. The strength 
 of the garrison consisted of eight companies of veterans, 
 fourteen battalions of Honveds, seven hundred of the 
 Honved artillery, and six squadrons, partly hussars 
 and partly Csikoses, amounting in all to twelve thou- 
 sand men : the fortress was stocked with ammunition 
 
154 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 and provisions for above a twelvemonth, and was de- 
 fended with two hundred and sixty cannons, all in a 
 serviceable state, together with as many more dis- 
 mounted. 
 
 In January, 1849, Simunich undertook an invest- 
 ment of the place on the island of Schutt, between the 
 Waag and Danube ; but the winter was very severe, 
 and the siege-artillery not in the best order ; while, 
 on the other hand, the garrison were in the highest 
 spirits, and prepared to repulse the Austrians wherever 
 they should attempt to set foot. Simunich moreover 
 had by no means the force necessary to invest Komorn. 
 The operations during the months of January and 
 February were a mere comedy. Despatches, reports, 
 newspapers, passed in and out the gates of the fortress 
 with little difficulty; and even at the end of March 
 and beginning of April, when every effort was made to 
 enforce the surrender, there were always plenty of 
 adventurous persons who kept up the communication 
 with abroad,. 
 
 According to the accounts of the Vienna war 
 ministry, they did not " seriously" contemplate a siege 
 until the end of March. The weather and the impassa- 
 ble state of the roads had hitherto prevented the trans- 
 port and planting of the heavy siege»artillery, which 
 was at length conveyed in eight batteries from the 
 Sandberg to beyond the village of Uj-Szony. On the 
 24th of March, forty-two twelve and eighteen pound- 
 ers, mortars and howitzers, were ready to open a 
 resolute fire, which had previously been confined to 
 the destruction of the town, already uninhabitable, 
 and the burning down of Uj-Szony. 
 
 The Austrians had thus spent no less than three 
 months in planting their batteries, with great loss, on 
 
SIEGE OF KOMORN. 155 
 
 the right bank of the chief branch of the Danube: 
 their guns commanded the town, the old fortress, and 
 part of the Palatinal line. 
 
 During this period the garrison made numerous 
 gallant sorties, while many a day was passed by the 
 Austrians in cannonading without any glorious result. 
 On the 19th the Demontir-batteries opened their fire ; 
 and on the 20th, at eight o'clock in the morning, the 
 bombardment began from the Kettle-batteries. Up to 
 the 21st probably about four hundred bombshells and 
 grenades had been thrown. On the 29th Komorn 
 was cannonaded with sixteen-pounders ; and the same 
 day a sortie was made by Honveds and hussars on the 
 side of Gran, who brought back into the fortress, men, 
 cannon, and several hundred kilderkins of wine. 
 
 On the 31st the investment was re-established, or, 
 as the ministerial reports express it, " disposed in full 
 earnest." For this purpose the bridge previously 
 thrown across the Danube at Puszta-Lovad was trans- 
 ported down to Nemes-Oers, in order to establish at 
 that place a shorter communication between the two 
 banks; and at daybreak on the 31st the .columns were 
 in motion to take up their appointed posts. 
 
 The first division of the Sossay brigade seized and 
 occupied Puszta-Rava, on the left bank of the Waag, 
 and the little wood of Apati, from which however 
 they were soon 'driven by the fire of the fifth Palatinal 
 rampart. The second column advanced on the right 
 bank of the Waag as far as the destroyed bridge, and 
 under the fire of the fourth and fifth Palatinal ramparts. 
 The third column, commanded in person by General 
 Sossay, advanced further than any other from Nemes- 
 Oers on the left bank of the Danube, and cannonaded 
 with the howitzers of their horse-battery the fifth 
 
156 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 rampart, which now opened a fire upon this side also : 
 so that the whole line was one continuous fire from 
 ten o'clock in the morning till four in the afternoon, 
 in which the field-pieces of the besiegers played a very 
 subordinate part. 
 
 Three other columns of the Weigl brigade had 
 advanced at the same time toward the tete-de-pont of 
 the Waag, and brought back a few of their dead, with 
 a report of the admirable manner in which the enemy's 
 artillery was served, — a fact of which those in the 
 right camp of the Danube had also become convinced, 
 twelve cannons having from this point played upon 
 the fortress and the tete-de-pont without the least effect. 
 
 The official reports called this fruitless attack, 
 which was attended with so great a sacrifice of life, 
 "a trial" of the garrison; and having stood this j 
 test so well, the fortress was put to successive and 
 more difficult proofs. In the night of the 31st of 
 March, four new twenty-four pounders were planted, 
 with the intention of forcing the tete-de-pont of the 
 Danube, and throwing red-hot balls upon the fortress. 
 On the 1st of April twelve more heavy cannon and 
 two sixty-pound mortars were brought up. On the 
 2d, a further number of heavy guns arrived from 
 Vienna, and General Dietrich undertook personally 
 the service of the artillery. 
 
 At length, on the 3d of April, a decisive blow was] 
 struck ; Simunich, by command of Welden, issued an 
 order of the day to the blockading corps, which contain 
 the following startling announcements & — " There can 
 be no longer any thought of a capitulation with 
 miserable traitors ;" and,* "the taking of Komorn is 
 one of the first conditions of the new campaign." To 
 this the Hungarians answered by a sortie, carrying 
 
 s 
 
 : 
 
SIEGE OF KOMORN. 157 
 
 back with them to the fortress four cannon and forty 
 Austrians ; for on their side they maintained that one 
 of the first conditions of the new campaign was the 
 capture of the besieging artillery and of the men who 
 served the guns. 
 ■ All these statements, as here brought together, are 
 taken from the official reports of the Austrian war 
 ministry; but Hungarian and foreign journals, and 
 private reports of the blockading corps, gave even at 
 that time a description of the events of the last days 
 of March before Komorn, which for the sake of truth 
 
 tmust be stated, notwithstanding the doubt and obscu- 
 rity that veil most of the details. 
 Welden had undertaken the command of the invest- 
 ing troops, and carried off with him all the artillery 
 that had been stored up for years in the imperial 
 arsenals. By his orders the general attack, described 
 above as a strategical "trial," was made on the 31st 
 of March. According to other accounts, this attack was 
 simply a demonstration of insanity, an enterprise of 
 senseless ambition and inhumanity. 
 
 Welden is said to have three several times com- 
 manded the storming of the fortress ; three times in 
 succession columns of riflemen, it is said, were ordered 
 to advance against the ramparts, not a third part of 
 whom found their way back. A fourth time Italian 
 troops were commanded to storm, but these refused 
 to march upon certain death, and Welden ordered a 
 body of dragoons to advance upon their rear and 
 goad them on to the assault. Austrian troops fired 
 upon one another, and attacked each other furiously. 
 Welden returned to Vienna, his life being no longer 
 secure in his own camp. Such was the account very 
 generally related. 
 
158 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Simunich made a fresh attempt, in the beginning of 
 April, to reduce the fortress, by a grand, uninter- 
 rupted cannonade. He fired red-hot balls from can- 
 non of the heaviest calibre and sixty-pound mortars 
 from the Sandberg ; but the fire was answered wifck 
 superior force by the old fortress, the tete-de-pont, anil 
 the Palatinal line. Some dilapidated old houses in the 
 town were thrown down by the immense concussion 
 of the air and ground, but the works of the fortress 
 suffered trifling injury. These were the severest days 
 of trial to the garrison, and afforded the greatest evi- 
 dence of the strength of the fortress. 
 
 Some Austrian officers, prisoners of war in the for- 
 tress, who were allowed to go at large on parole, once 
 ventured an attempt, by a bold coup de main, to deli- 
 ver the fortress into the hands of the enemy. The 
 plan was discovered in time, and they had to expiate 
 this breach of faith in the deepest casemates. At 
 another time the besiegers attempted to gain by stra- 
 tagem what they failed to win by force. Half li 
 dozen Austrian artillerymen offered themselves to exe- 
 cute a perilous enterprise which one of them had de- 
 vised. With the consent of their commander, they 
 left their company secretly, and presenting themselves 
 as deserters at one of the gates of the fortress, were 
 admitted. In their pockets they carried tools* for 
 spiking the cannon, together with signal-rockets. By 
 means of the latter they intended to give information 
 to their friends outside when they had succeeded in 
 disabling the guns, that a general attack might be im- 
 mediately made on this point. The project was bold, 
 but not impracticable, and by gaining entrance into the 
 fortress a great part of the danger was already past. 
 
 As good Catholics, assured of absolution from their 
 
^Bpisco 
 *them 
 
 SIEGE OF KOxMORN. 159 
 
 church, they took the oath to the Hungarian standard, 
 and were enlisted ; but for obvious reasons they showed 
 a repugnance? to exchange their uniforms for the dress 
 of the.,Honveds. This excited suspicion; the men's 
 ets were searched, and their significant contents 
 iscovered. By threats the secret was drawn from 
 hem ; they disclosed it, to save their lives, and at the 
 same time they sacrificed the lives of hundreds of 
 their brethren. 
 
 The signal-rockets were indeed discharged on one 
 of the following nights from the plateau of the north 
 ramparts of the Danube. Immediately the Austrian 
 pontooners set to work upon a bridge ; it was com- 
 pleted, and crowded with horses and men, who all 
 pressed forward boldly, on seeing the silence which 
 reigned in the fortress. A portion of the men had 
 already landed on the opposite bank, and the crowd 
 pressed on with increased eagerness, when suddenly a 
 flash from the black earth-ramparts broke the dark- 
 ness of the night — there at least t] vere un- 
 spiked — and the shot carried deatlt 
 of the crowd. The first few balls sha- the br Ige 
 to atoms, annihilating the brave felloWJf it. Num- 
 bers met their death in the river, many from the inac- 
 cessible guns of the rampart, while others saved thei 
 lives under shelter of the night. Those whc4H| 
 already landed on the opposite shore were obliged to' 
 surrender. After this terrible night no furthe^-tt^H 
 upon the fortress was attempted by the Austriansr 
 The discharge of its mortars alone informed the gar- 
 rison from time to time that the storm was still ragirfg 
 over their heads. 
 
 Nearly four months had elapsed since the garrison 
 in Komorn, separated from the other divisions of the 
 
160 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. , 
 
 army, had been thrown upon their own resources and 
 the protection of the fortress. The latter had proved 
 its strength, and there was no scarcity either of am- 
 munition or provisions, notwithstanding the accounts 
 given in the official reports of the imperial gener 
 The health of $he garrison had not suffered ; but th 
 distemper had begun to manifest itself, common 
 all besieged fortresses — the feeling of isolation, fear, 
 impatience, longing, doubt respecting the fortune of 
 war in the armies of their distant brethren, and the 
 possibility of a speedy relief. 
 
 Symptoms of doubt are the forerunners of danger- 
 ous dissension, which in turn leads to treason and to 
 ruin. While on the one hand messengers, at the 
 hazard of their lives, had brought the reassuring news 
 from Debreczin, that as yet the cause of liberty had 
 suffered no reverses, and every thing promised vic- 
 tory, — on the other, the dispiriting tidings from Ka- 
 polna had likewise found their way across the Danube, 
 
 «has no faith in liberty until he has 
 ost sight of his jailor. ' 
 
 Repeal )uriers arrived at Debreczin, pressing 
 
 for n ^asures to be taken for the speedy relief of the 
 garrison. Kossuth deliberated as to what man he 
 should send into the fortress — one upon whose energy 
 H^could rely, and who was at the same time possessed 
 of sufficient authority and influence to infuse spirit 
 into the faint-hearted, to restore confidence to the 
 ^loubtful, to control the suspicious. His choice fell 
 on Guyon, who readily undertook an enterprise 
 which pleased him from its adventurous character. 
 The expedition was to remain a secret, in order to 
 prevent its incurring failure at the outset. Neverthe- 
 less the "Esti-lap" in an uncalled-for manner dropped 
 
 mis 
 als. 
 
 "Pi 
 
 L tO 
 
SIEGE OP KOMORN. 161 
 
 a mention of the project, and Guyon hastened to 
 Kossuth, complaining to him of the increased danger 
 brought upon his enterprise by this newspaper gos- 
 sip. Kossuth, who knew from experience the uncon- 
 mierable passion of a newspaper editor for disclosing 
 %11 that reaches his ear, vented a few ejaculations 
 against his former colleagues in a body, and Guyon 
 started the very same evening for Komorn. The 
 route via Pesth was guarded by the Austrians, and he 
 therefore took the road to the south, leaving behind 
 him all his equipage, together with his costly gene- 
 ral's uniform. 
 
 Guyon travelled in the disguise of a Jew ; and the 
 skill and success with which he acted his part are 
 proved by his safe arrival at Komorn. The story of 
 his having, with twelve hussars, fought his way through 
 the midst of the investing corps of the enemy, is a 
 mere fable. People are never at a loss when invent- 
 ing marvellous stories of their favourite heroes, and 
 there was no enterprise of danger and heroism which 
 the hussars were not ready to attribute to Guyon. 
 
 Guyon's sudden appearance in the fortress, the 
 fame which had preceded him, his resolute character, 
 together with the accounts he gave of the enemy's 
 positions, of the general enthusiasm of the country, 
 and the increased strength of the Magyar army, of 
 Gorgey, Bern, and Kossuth, restored the confidence 
 of the officers in the garrison. He remained at Ko- 
 morn until the siege was raised,, and his name is con- 
 sequently not found among the generals who shared 
 in the brilliant campaign of April. 
 
 After the battle of Waitzen the siege of Komorn 
 was virtually terminated ; an imperial corps still re- 
 mained behind, but chiefly for the purpose of saving 
 
 11 
 
162 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 the position-cannon, and keeping the road to Press- 
 burg open. The first of these tasks they were in part 
 able to accomplish. The greater portion of the siege- 
 artillery was brought to a place of safety, after the 
 heaviest pieces of ordnance had been rendered unfit 
 for service ; but thousands of hoes and spades, large 
 heaps of sacks of eatth, an immense number of lad- 
 ders and implements of all descriptions, broken gun- 
 carriages, and fragments of baggage-wagons, masses 
 of all the various parts of artillery, were necessarily 
 left behind. With feelings of joy and surprise the 
 besieged garrison, after their deliverance, witnessed 
 the wrecks of all this colossal apparatus, which had 
 been brought together for their destruction. 
 
 On the evening of the 25th of April, the enemy 
 had disappeared from the country for miles around. 
 The northern and western sides were open, and the 
 imperial standard floated only from the Sandberg, by 
 the side of its fearful intrenchments. Schlik was 
 obliged to occupy this position, until Welden with the 
 main army had gained the road to Raab and Hoch- 
 strass. 
 
 Up to this time all the battles had been fought on 
 the left bank of the river. On the 25th the Hun- 
 garian vanguard under Knezich, and the corps of 
 Klapka and Damianich, crossed the Danube at inter- 
 vals of half an hour. At two o'clQck in the morning 
 the storming of the Sandberg commenced. The di- 
 visions of Knezich and Dipold forced these works the 
 first; at daybreak Klapka took O'Szony at the point 
 of the bayonet, and at eight o'clock all the fortifica- 
 tions were in the hands of the Hungarians. 
 
 The Austrian troops displayed their accustomed 
 prudence, courage, and heroism in" opposing the su- 
 
KOMORN RELIEVED. 163 
 
 perior forces of the enemy, who pressed forward with 
 irresistible enthusiasm. Their steady discipline and 
 remarkable skill in manoeuvring, which rank them 
 with the first soldiers in the world, might have pro- 
 longed the resistance ; but the Hungarians were 
 joined by the garrison of the fortress, whom Guyon 
 led out by the tete-de-pont into the open field. The 
 Austrians could not hope to receive succour from the 
 main army under Welden, which had collected again 
 in Raab in the most pitiable condition ; while Gorgey 
 with all his forces was free to cross the Danube if he 
 pleased, and cut off the retreat of Schlik. The latter 
 therefore retired with his troops to Raab, and there 
 joined the main army, after having suffered some 
 slight loss. 
 
 There were great rejoicings in Komorn among the 
 garrison and their liberators : the fortress had still 
 sufficient stores of food and wine to welcome a second 
 army, which moreover brought in its train thousands 
 of wagon-loads of all kinds of provisions. The exul- 
 tation of the army was unbounded : all the gates of 
 the fortress stood wide open on their half-rusty hinges 
 as in a time of profound peace. The relief of Komorn 
 was the most important achievement of the campaign, 
 and the greatest victory of the Magyar army. 
 
 At two different periods of the war the metropolis 
 of Hungary had heard at a distance the discharge of 
 artillery. But the city had not hitherto been the 
 scene of any conflict, and the only blood had been 
 shed by the hand of an assassin, in the murder of 
 Count Lamberg, on the bridge of boats, by an infuri- 
 ated mob, September 28th, 1848. The imperialists, 
 under Windischgratz, took possession of the metropo- 
 lis without resistance. 
 
164 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 While Buda itself is commanded on three sides, it 
 commands the Danube and Pesth, and in this consists 
 the importance of its position. 
 
 It was on the forenoon of the 21st of April, — Aus- 
 trian bulletins of battles won at Gran and Komorn 
 were placarded on the walk, to amuse the good people 
 of Pesth and quiet their apprehensions, — when the 
 vanguard of the Hungarian army appeared on the 
 Bombenplatz at Buda. Loud eljens arose from the 
 citizens along the quay, which were answered by a 
 cannon-shot from the fortress. 
 
 The Hungarians had reckoned on meeting with only 
 a weak resistance, if any; they, therefore, upon the 
 arrival of their first columns, advanced straight to the 
 assault against the palisades on the chain-bridge, 
 setting fire to them in different parts. Presently the 
 Honveds were seen on the further side climbing the 
 hill in small detachments, — but only to meet their 
 death from the musketry of the Austrians. Buda was 
 not prepared to yield so easily the fame she had ac- 
 quired of old in the days of the Turkish war. 
 
 The Honveds were repulsed with great loss. Those 
 collected on the lower declivity of the hill were deci- 
 mated by the fire kept up from the houses, especially 
 from the monastery of the Misericordians. The in- 
 habitants of Pesth were eye-witnesses of the slaughter, 
 as the dead bodies of their sons and brothers rolled 
 down the hill-side ; but Gorgey must have seen clearly 
 that a serious tragedy was in preparation in the am- 
 phitheatre of mountains around Buda, of which he was 
 anxious to be the hero. « I will show the world that 
 I too can reduce fortresses !" said he to Damianich and 
 Aulich ; and these words contained all the motives 
 that induced him, in opposition to the orders of Kos- 
 
SIEGE OF BUDA. 165 
 
 suth, to encamp before Buda with thirty thousand men, 
 instead of pursuing Welden up to the gates of Vienna. 
 A single order of the day, subscribed « Arthur Gorgey, 
 from head-quarters at Schonbrunn," would have been 
 of infinitely greater importance to the future prospects 
 of Hungary and Austria, nay, of the whole world, than 
 the reduction of ten such strongholds as Buda. 
 
 Gorgey knew this perfectly well; but the plan to 
 advance across the frontier had been formed by Dem- 
 binski, and approved by Kossuth ; and this was a 
 sufficient reason for Gorgey to oppose its execution. 
 The siege of Buda was the first step in the fall of 
 Hungary ; it saved the Emperor of Austria the remains 
 of his army and his crowns. 
 
 A brisk fire of grenades and cartridge was now 
 directed from the ramparts against the city of Buda, 
 which is built outside the fortress-walls at the foot and 
 on the slope of the hill along the Danube, as Hunga- 
 rian troops were gradually collecting in the streets and 
 buildings. On this occasion Buda suffered severely; 
 many houses were laid in ruins, many burnt down to 
 the cellars ; others escaped with only the loss of a 
 roof, while all were more or less riddled with balls. 
 Meanwhile, Pesth, from the opposite shore, sent her 
 eljens across the river, to encourage the combatants, 
 until they were silenced by repeated shots from the 
 fortress. 
 
 Gorgey by this time saw that Buda was not inclined 
 to surrender without a struggle, that any idea of taking 
 the fortress by surprise was out of the question, and 
 that the garrison were resolved on a stout defence. 
 He therefore withdrew his troops from within range of 
 the enemy's guns, and made every disposition for in- 
 vesting and bombarding the fortress. He turned a 
 
166 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 deaf ear to Kossuth's offer of posting one hundred 
 thousand peasants around the place, to prevent any 
 sortie, and give Gorgey time to pursue the Austrians. 
 Gorgey took up his head-quarters first in a park, which 
 lay not only under the cannon but within musket-shot 
 of the Austrians. He was a stranger to fear, and, 
 like Bern, delighted in seeing the balls fly around him. 
 Whether the position of his head-quarters was betrayed 
 to the fortress by spies, or by the number of couriers 
 and staff-officers going in and out, Henzi's grenades 
 fired the roof over Gorgey's head, and thus unceremo- 
 niously gave him notice to quit. He removed his quar- 
 ters to a beautiful country-house on the Schwabenberg, 
 commanding a magnificent prospect over Buda, Pesth, 
 and the Danube, but situated too high for any shot to 
 reach it from the fortress. 
 
 The hills all around gradually teemed with life ; 
 batteries of mortars, howitzers, and twelve-pounders, 
 sprang as it were from the ground upon the heights. 
 An uninterrupted fire was kept up, but the positions 
 which the Hungarians held were too good for their 
 batteries to be disturbed. 
 
 From time to time, the firing was directed upon 
 Pesth ; Honveds of Aulich's corps kept guard in the 
 streets, to prevent any one from going upon the quay 
 of the Danube ; for a sentinel in the Dorothea-street 
 had his nose smashed, and another his leg, together with 
 the sentry-box. A barrister had both legs shot away 
 in his bed, and in one dwelling-house a whole family 
 consisting of five persons, were killed by a bombshell. 
 
 It took Gorgey a fortnight to bring together all the 
 apparatus with which he intended to show the world 
 that he, too, could take fortresses. During this fort- 
 night two assaults were attempted and repulsed ; in the 
 
ASSAULT ON BUDA. 167 
 
 first (May 4th) the Honveds succeeded in forcing their 
 way up to the wall of the Palatinal Garden, but without 
 reaching the plateau itself; in the second assault, a 
 long and obstinate fight took place on the side of the 
 Vienna Gate. 
 
 Meanwhile the regular breach-batteries arose slowly 
 and fearfully upon the Calvarienberg and Spitzberg. 
 When these cannon opened their fire, the ground lite- 
 rally shook for miles around ; for now that the object 
 was to effect a breach, whole batteries were discharged 
 simultaneously, in order that the concussion of the 
 walls might aid the effect of the projectiles. The Vi- 
 enna Gate fell in ruins, together with the vaulting; 
 and with this the rampart, and with the rampart the 
 vaults, and the neighbouring houses. So likewise the 
 whole line of the Weissenburg gate was levelled by the 
 batteries of the Spitzberg. The whole space behind these 
 two gates was one immense yawning breach. At this 
 point the fatal stroke was aimed, — here, along the whole 
 extent of the fortifications, the storming took place. 
 
 Gorgey left this service to volunteers : the Don Mi- 
 guel battalion, and the seventh and forty-ninth Honved 
 battalions, were the first that offered themselves for 
 the task, (May 20th.) These troops were also the first 
 upon the ramparts. Henzi died like a hero. Colonel 
 Auer perished in an unsuccessful act of vandalism : 
 he had to hold the post on the aqueduct and chain- 
 bridge, and in order to die with eclat when all was 
 lost, he flung his cigar into a powder-barrel which 
 communicated with the mine beneath the bridge. The 
 traces of the explosion were to be seen six months 
 afterward on the lower rafters of the bridge. The 
 body of the colonel was found burnt to a cinder. 
 
 The exultation of the citizens of Pesth was un- 
 
168 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAE. 
 
 bounded, when they saw the tricolour flag hoisted upon 
 the castle of Buda. On the entrance of the first hus- 
 sars, (a part of Aulich's corps,) mothers, delicate wo- 
 men, and high-born ladies pressed forward to kiss the 
 accoutrements of the heroes ; children embraced the 
 horses' knees, men wept, and old men exulted with all 
 the spirits of youth : the tricolour was a token of peace 
 to the unhappy city. For weeks the poor inhabitants 
 had been living crowded together in the little wood 
 close by, and at New Pesth, and had distinctly seen 
 their dwellings burning to the ground. 
 
 Pesth was once more a scene of life and animation — 
 more so indeed than ever. The roads to all parts of the 
 country were again open ; the streets were filled with 
 foreign visitors and Hungarian troops ; people flocked 
 in crowds to inspect the scene of conflict, and all con- 
 sideration of individual loss was absorbed in that of 
 the advantage gained by the people. It was like a 
 continued fair ; the shopkeepers made a great harvest, 
 disposed of all their goods, and grew rich in — Kossuth 
 notes. Then arrived the immigrants from Debreczin, 
 the representatives, Kossuth and the rest. Pesth was 
 at that time the most attractive city in the world. 
 
 Meanwhile at Buda thousands were busied in de- 
 stroying the fortifications, while thousands were also 
 employed in clearing away the traces of devastation 
 in Pesth. Nevertheless, this city bears, down to the 
 present day, the marks of the bombardment upon most 
 of its buildings, but Buda has ceased to be even a 
 "2M<m-fortress." "With the storming of Buda and 
 the relief of Komorn terminated the first campaign 
 against the Austrians. A long cessation of hostilities 
 ensued, during which the Russian armies approached 
 the Hungarian frontier. 
 
INTRIGUES AT DEBRECZIN. 169 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 intrigues at debreczin — declaration oe independence — 
 kossuth's intentions — a new ministry — szemere — the re- 
 publican MOVEMENT — DUSCHEK — LADISLAUS CSANTI — VUKO- 
 VICH — HORVATH — CASIMIR BATTHTANTI — EOREIGN POLICY OP 
 HUNGARY — THE SOUTH-SCLAYISH RACES. 
 
 Great historical phases of development, besides the 
 outward manifestations which they bring to light, bear 
 within them many dark riddles, the solution of which 
 is indispensable to explain current events. The 
 greatest riddle of the Hungarian revolution is un- 
 questionably the national Declaration of Independence, 
 prompted by Kossuth, and proclaimed by the National 
 Assembly, at Debreczin, on the 14th of April, 1849, 
 — an act which has been interpreted in various ways, 
 for the most part incorrectly, and the real meaning of 
 which is almost universally misunderstood. 
 
 At the beginning of April, when Kossuth, quitting 
 the victorious and advancing army, returned to De- 
 breczin, he found there many changes. His absence 
 had given opportunity to some narrow-minded men — 
 such as every revolution produces, like satellites to the 
 great planets — to push themselves forward on the 
 scene of action. Insignificant in Kossuth's presence, 
 they eagerly caught at an opportunity of playing a 
 part when the master's back was turned. Paul Nyary, 
 Gabriel Kazinczi, Louis Kovacs, with a few others, 
 had, on the entrance of Prince Windischgratz into 
 Pesth, abandoned all hope of success, and began to 
 
170 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 talk of an unconditional surrender. There was at that 
 time logic in their cowardice. Now, when they were 
 again endeavouring to gain proselytes to their schemes 
 of mediation, they were singly animated by a love of 
 intrigue, by the desire of acquiring importance in 
 opposition. 
 
 Kossuth returned from Godolo elated with victory. 
 He had seen his Magyars in battle, and been eye- 
 witness of their heroism, which surpassed the brightest 
 dreams of his imagination. Gorgey and he had em- 
 braced — Gorgey too exceeded all his expectations and 
 hopes ; he felt assured that the plan of the campaign 
 would be successful, like a masterly game of chess. 
 Was this a moment to talk of negotiations ? Could it 
 be imagined that Austria would in future display better 
 faith toward Hungary than she had done since 1526 ? 
 Was it possible for Kossuth to allow the ardour and 
 courage of his troops to cool down, by entering on a 
 negotiation for peace at the very moment when vic- 
 tory was certain, although not yet fully achieved ? 
 Could he dare to abandon the cause of the Poles, in 
 the very hour when Gorgey was on the point of ter- 
 minating a victory which Bern had so gloriously begun ? 
 These are questions which probably suggested them- 
 selves to the minds of Kossuth's enemies at Debrec- 
 zin ; but their paltry jealousy would not allow them 
 to give a conscientious answer to their own minds. 
 They must have felt that their time was not yet come. 
 The diet was so accustomed to Kossuth's guidance, 
 that it was no easy task to reconcile it to a policy op- 
 posed to his, especially as the men of the greatest 
 talents sided with the governor of their free-will and 
 choice. There was one point only open to attack, 
 like the heel of Achilles, — one small party who, tired 
 
INDEPENDENCE DECLARED. 171 
 
 of the war, were desirous to be relieved from the con- 
 tinued state of excitement, and to return as speedily 
 as possible to a more easy mode of life ; and this weak 
 side, this knot of a few little-minded men, was worked 
 upon with all the powers of intrigue. 
 
 Kossuth while at the camp received information of 
 these secret cabals, which the zeal of his friends ex- 
 aggerated and described as of the most formidable 
 character. He resolved to put an end to them, by 
 burning the ships of his enemies behind their backs. 
 His fear was greater than the danger, and this fear 
 will explain the reason why the Declaration of Inde- 
 pedence was proclaimed before the campaign had 
 attained its object. As to the effect of such a measure 
 Kossuth had not deceived himself, but he miscalculated 
 the time for its promulgation. 
 
 On the 14th of April, the representatives of the 
 Hungarian people assembled in the Protestant church, 
 for the purpose of entering the ranks of independent 
 nations, after the example set by the Americans. Eye- 
 witnesses of that assembly assure us that the scene in 
 the plain, unadorned house of prayer was the grandest 
 one in the whole course of the Hungarian revolution. 
 Never was Kossuth's eloquence more electrifying than 
 when dictating the letter of renunciation of allegiance 
 to the Hapsburg dynasty ; his glowing patriotism vied 
 with his impassioned eloquence. The farewell curse 
 thundered from his lips like a cataract ; and as the 
 people beheld the history of their centuries of suffering, 
 the deceptions practised on them, and their unrequited 
 and thankless sacrifices, unrolled before them, and 
 held up to their view like so many warning spirits, 
 their hearts' blood stirred with feverish excitement, 
 they trembled with irrepressible emotion. The thrill 
 
172 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 of present joy, the intoxicating presentiment of future 
 freedom, could alone adequately recompense the suffer- 
 ings, the bootless struggles of ages, or efface the re- 
 membrance of past griefs. 
 
 A thundering shout of exultation broke from that 
 immense assembly, and swelling in its course like an 
 avalanche, it was caught up by the multitude who 
 thronged the streets without, and was echoed far and 
 wide through the country around. The National As- 
 sembly had made a call upon the people for fresh 
 heroism, for new self-denial and self-devotion; and 
 the people, in their joyous enthusiasm, vowed to re- 
 spond to the summons. The petty intriguers had not 
 the courage to open their lips : the Vergniauds of 
 Debreczin were mute. 
 
 As we have remarked, Kossuth had never deceived 
 himself in the anticipated effect of this decisive act, 
 but only in the time of bringing it forward. The 
 declaration of independence came either a year too 
 late, or a month too early. The open struggle against 
 the crown was indeed only a month old in April of 
 the year 1848 ; but the bloodless battles of the Press- 
 burg diets against the encroachments of the crown 
 had for a long time fatally weakened public confidence 
 in the dynasty throughout the whole of Hungary. 
 The blow would at that time have been overwhelming, 
 — perhaps not confined to Hungary; but a violent 
 separation was not then in the plan of the victorious 
 party, who believed it possible to bring to a peaceable 
 conclusion what they had begun on the path of right. 
 
 A year of sanguinary battles had since elapsed, the 
 gauntlet had been thrown down by the court, the 
 Magyars had taken it up with painful resolution, and 
 were now on the point of planting their foot upon 
 
DECLARATION PREMATURE. 173 
 
 the neck of their perjured foe. Kossuth and his 
 friends, the Hungarians, Polish, and even the Austrian 
 generals doubted not for an instant of seeing the 
 Magyar army press on to Vienna. There in the Hof- 
 burg, in the sacred edifice of the cathedral of St. Ste- 
 phen, in the metropolis of the empire, in the face and 
 in the centre of all the provinces, Kossuth had intend- 
 ed to proclaim to the world the independence of his 
 country. This was resolved upon at the opening of 
 the campaign of April, but impatience put an end to 
 secret dissensions in the diet and hastened the execution 
 of his project. The little bell in the meeting-house 
 at Debreczin had not the majestic clang of the great 
 bell of St. Stephen's ; its sound died away over the 
 interminable plains of Hungary, or reached the Ger- 
 man races only like an echo from fairyland. Kossuth 
 had suffered himself to be allured by phantoms into 
 taking a premature step, — one of sad and important 
 significance for the future. 
 
 To risk a measure pregnant with such momentous 
 consequences as the separation of one state from 
 another, can be justified only by a well-grounded assu- 
 rance of success. The configuration must be favour- 
 able, in time and place, to be able to fix the horoscope 
 with confidence. Count Teleki, who, removed from the 
 scenes of the revolution, could follow its progress with 
 a clear eye and correct judgment, had perceived the 
 full importance of this truth : and on the first news 
 of the brilliant successes of the Hungarian arms, he 
 despatched a trusty courier to Kossuth, entreating him 
 to fix his whole attention upon Vienna. He urged 
 him to disregard all brilliant achievements, all present 
 advantages, and to think only of pressing on to Vienna, 
 even if the force at his command for this object was 
 
174 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 not of an imposing character. But Kossuth dreamed 
 himself already in 'Vienna, in the midst of an oppress- 
 ed population, welcoming him as their saviour. Could 
 he at that time have doubted Gorgey's truth and 
 honour ? Assuredly as little as any one could have 
 believed that a general of Gorgey's calibre would have 
 suffered himself to be caught in so clumsy a trap as 
 that of Buda. 
 
 The measures of the diet were restricted to the de- 
 claration of independence, and the determination of 
 the future form of government was left to depend on 
 the conjuncture of events in Europe ; it is clear there- 
 fore that Kossuth meditated nothing more, than that 
 the army as well as the National Assembly should 
 work on to the end indefatigably. He had a right to 
 infer that even the most irresolute must, after such a 
 step, give up all hope of any retreat. In fact the 
 opponents of this decisive measure themselves, when 
 they witnessed the universal exultation with which it 
 was hailed by the nation, joined the new policy in the 
 warmest manner. They were at heart glad to have 
 got over a step which was inevitable, and congratu- 
 lated themselves on having passed the difficulty. 
 
 The new president governor had, immediately after 
 the declaration of independence, to proceed to the 
 formation of a new ministry. Szemere undertook the 
 presidency, together with the portfolio of the interior. 
 
 This person, whom we have before met in the Bat- 
 thyanyi ministry, had since that period gained in 
 efficiency and importance. He belongs to the better 
 known and more influential class of politicians in Hun- 
 gary ; but he wants the power of organization on a 
 grand scale, and is deficient in those comprehensive 
 views, that deep insight, which mark the statesman. 
 
SZEMERE PRESIDENT. 175 
 
 In the former ministry under Batthyanyi, he one while 
 inclined to the president, at another to Kossuth ; at 
 the same time he had frequent intercourse with the 
 Archduke Stephen, and acted since the month of Sep- 
 tember as a member of the committee of national de- 
 fence, in which sphere he worked with untiring zeal 
 and activity! In April, 1849, the new president of 
 the ministry avowed himself an advocate for a repub- 
 lic, and openly announced to the House of Represent- 
 atives his government as democratic and republican. 
 
 This change in the ministerial programme was ne- 
 cessarily calculated to prejudice the government in the 
 eyes of the nation, since it was not in unison with the 
 Declaration of Independence itself. It is difficult to 
 judge of the motives which led Szemere to this pre- 
 mature avowal, for he might have been a very good 
 republican, and yet have adhered to the provisional 
 form of government declared by the diet. It seems 
 that a personal mistrust of Kossuth, even at that time, 
 with respect to the foreign relations of the country, 
 induced him to this unfortunate policy. Kossuth erred 
 in neglecting to come to an understanding with his 
 ministers as to their views, before presenting the minis- 
 terial list to the house ; but Kossuth was deceived in 
 Szemere, as he was in Gorgey. The president of the 
 ministry had never been a friend of the governor ; 
 indeed, people were so convinced of his hostility to 
 Kossuth in Debreczin, that some even talked of a se- 
 cret understanding between Szemere and Gorgey, and 
 Perczel in particular is said to have repeatedly alluded 
 to this. But Szemere's conduct toward Kossuth has 
 nothing in common with the paltry jealousy of a Gor- 
 gey ; he may have drawn up his programme with an 
 honest conviction of its necessity ; but his mistrust was 
 
176 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 unjust, his policy unsuited to circumstances. Szemere 
 moreover possesses a greater administrative than states- 
 manlike talent. Even his speeches, brilliant as they 
 are, and rich in thought, bear the stamp of diligent 
 study, rather than fervent inspiration. In his political 
 views he is too much influenced by questions of detail, 
 and falls far short of that height which the leaders of 
 so mighty a revolution had necessarily to occupy. 
 
 Duschek, the minister of finance, a clever bureau- 
 crat, had the tact to render himself indispensable by 
 his intimate knowledge of the financial relations of 
 Hungary. A master in the art of dissimulation, he 
 possessed the confidence not only of Kossuth but of 
 all the leaders of the movement up to the final catas- 
 trophe. At that period we shall meet him again. 
 
 Ladislaus Csanyi, minister of communication, a 
 genuine Magyar, was thoroughly imbued with the 
 spirit of the revolution. Possessing an iron will, united 
 with indefatigable perseverance, he was an ardent pa- 
 triot, an excellent man, but of no statesmanlike talent. 
 
 S abbas Vukovich, minister of justice, one of the 
 most honourable men, far removed from personal am- 
 bition and petty jealousy, working indefatigably toward 
 the grand final object in view, resolute in principle, a 
 mediator among his colleagues, with a character formed 
 in the mould of antiquity, to whom it would have been 
 the greatest delight to sacrifice limb and life for the 
 good of his country. 
 
 Michael Horvath, minister of instruction, was for- 
 merly professor of history in the Theresa College in 
 Vienna, afterward Prior of Hatvan, and nominated by 
 Eotvbs to the bishopric of Csanad, in which dignity he 
 was confirmed by the Emperor Ferdinand. His history 
 of Hungary has given him a high reputation, while his 
 
CASIMIR BATTHYANYI. ITT 
 
 enlightened ideas as a priest gained him friends. At 
 the breaking out of the war he requested of the pri- 
 mate, his spiritual superior, paternal counsel with 
 respect to his future conduct in the politics of his 
 country. The advice seemed sufficiently pious : the 
 bishop was to pray at the altar of his church for the 
 inspiration of the Holy Ghost. This inspiration ap- 
 pears to have been of a revolutionary nature, for Hor- 
 vath immediately afterward proffered his services to 
 the Hungarian government. A sworn foe to priest- 
 craft, he possesses elevated notions of the true vocation 
 of the clergy. Hungary would have been indebted to 
 him for many useful reforms. As a statesman he has 
 yet to earn his spurs. 
 
 Count Casimir Batthyanyi, minister of foreign af- 
 fairs, and ad interim also of trade, is one of the noblest 
 characters that the Hungarian revolution has produced. 
 His great cultivation of mind and extensive reading 
 render him an able man, but unhappily he is deficient 
 in that power of forming a general survey of events, 
 that knowledge of the world, that quick insight into 
 the relations of men and things, without which no one 
 can be a really great statesman. Self-devotion, patriot- 
 ism, diligence, and many other brilliant qualities, 
 which distinguished him in the highest degree, were 
 not sufficient for his position and times. As minister 
 of foreign affairs, the count's attention required to 
 be devoted mainly to directing the policy of his coun- 
 try in such a manner that the efforts of the Hungarian 
 embassies might be attended with success ; and in this 
 respect the republican programme must likewise in 
 part be laid to his charge. Could Hungary at that 
 time calculate on sympathy from other quarters than 
 
 France and England, or mediately through these from 
 
 12 
 
178 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 the Porte ? Should not Batthyanyi have seen that by 
 this programme he was placing the Hungarian envoys 
 in an embarrassing position ? By the Declaration of 
 Independence it was at all events to be imagined that 
 France and England might be moved to an interven- 
 tion, since Hungary had de facto ceased to be a portion 
 of the Austrian monarchy. The semi-republican de- 
 claration on the Theiss alarmed the French statesmen 
 on the Seine, and the Tories in England had on their 
 side an easy game to play with Palmerston. Teleki 
 in Paris, and Pulszky in London, endeavoured to cor- 
 rect this evil, by declaring that they both adhered 
 solely to the act of independence ; but in so doing they 
 found themselves in the no less fatal position of being 
 obliged to disavow the policy of their own government. 
 These envoys, as the English and French journals of 
 that time clearly show, endeavoured to represent that 
 the form of government for Hungary was to be con- 
 sidered an open question, and that this country could 
 meanwhile be as little designated a republic as a 
 monarchy. But with the overpowering conservative 
 elements in England and France, which readily seized 
 on a pretext for remaining neutral with a good grace, 
 the position of the Hungarian envoys was by these 
 measures needlessly embarrassed. 
 
 A far greater error, which must be laid to the 
 governor and his ministers, was the misapprehension of 
 their task in reference to the question of nationalities. 
 The Declaration of Independence had no meaning, 
 unless the perfect satisfaction of all the wishes of the 
 Croats, Serbs, and Wallachs followed immediately. 
 The separation of Hungary from Austria ought at the 
 same time to be a bond of union with the South- 
 Sclavish races. That this was not easy of accomplish- 
 
THE SOUTH-SCLAVES. 179 
 
 ment, must be admitted ; indeed, it was extremely dif- 
 ficult to enter into any kind of peaceable and concilia- 
 tory relations with those nations. Austria moreover 
 had cunningly prevented this, by placing its creatures 
 at the head of the hostile races. It had always been 
 impossible to enter into negotiations with these men ; 
 Jellachich, Rajachich, Suplicacz, Theodorovich, and 
 the rest had received far too decided orders, far too 
 brilliant promises, to allow this. 
 
 But seeing that an understanding with the leaders 
 of the Sclaves was impossible, — and knowing that 
 numerous voices among these races were beginning to 
 raise the question of an alliance with Hungary, — the 
 government ought, for this very reason, to have dis- 
 armed the power of the leaders, by issuing a procla- 
 mation, and at once conceding all the demands of the 
 Hungarian Sclaves, however exaggerated. No attempt 
 ought to have been made to negotiate with the leaders, 
 but the diet should have addressed themselves directly 
 with this explanation to the people. By such a step 
 the Declaration of Independence would have gained 
 in significance and grandeur. It would have been 
 befitting a nation like Hungary, in the moment of 
 triumph, to have shown herself high-minded and ge- 
 nerous toward her armed but vanquished brethren, — 
 to have granted as a free-will offering to the con- 
 quered, what could never be conceded in point of right 
 to the conqueror. 
 
 This was the policy which circumstances perempto- 
 rily demanded. It was not a case that admitted of 
 negotiation, postponement, or half measures. This 
 was the only safe policy for Hungary, after she had 
 thrown off the yoke of Austria: from that moment it 
 was the more imperative on her to unite her cause 
 
180 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAE. 
 
 with that of her nationalities, and to attach their in- 
 terests indissolubly with her own. The Hungarian 
 government would by this measure have dispelled the 
 last appearances of any misapprehension of her views, 
 and the antique heroism of this noble nation would, by 
 such unparalleled and generous advances, have ac- 
 quired a new and brilliant lustre. Batthyanyi espe- 
 cially in his position ought to have reflected, that such 
 an act would have produced a much greater impres- 
 sion upon the "world than any protestation, however 
 eloquent, against Russian intervention. For we must 
 not deceive ourselves : the question of Hungarian 
 nationalities is such a tangled one, that other coun- 
 tries can scarcely be brought to conceive how Austria 
 had succeeded in gaining the Sclaves on her side. A 
 great many statesmen, from ignorance of these rela- 
 tions, were inclined to listen to the Austrian notes, 
 which craftily spoke merely of a " handful" of mal- 
 contents in Hungary. Such a designation of the great 
 revolution was at least comprehensible, and for the 
 policy of many statesmen the most convenient. 
 
 The act of independence might have been the cra- 
 dle of Hungary's freedom : it was wrecked, on the 
 false policy of the ministry, on the overthrow of Kos- 
 suth, and on Gorgey's treachery. 
 
ADVANCE OF THE RUSSIANS. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ADVANCE OF THE RUSSIANS — GORGEY ON THE WAAG — HAYNAU 
 TAKES THE FIELD — EXECUTION OF MEDNIANSKI, GRUBER, AND 
 RAZGA KOSSUTH, GORGEY, AND DAMIANICH PLAN OF OPERA- 
 TIONS OF THE HUNGARIANS BATTLE OF PERED AND SZIGARD 
 
 FLIGHT OF GORGEY — POSITION OF THE WAR IN THE SOUTH AND 
 
 EAST. 
 
 Two full months elapsed between the great battles 
 on the Theiss and Danube, — the result of which was 
 the retreat of the Austrian main army, — to the moment 
 when the united Russians and Austrians opened the 
 second decisive campaign. In May the siege and storm- 
 ing of Buda took place ; June was wasted by Gorgey in 
 purposeless battles on the Waag and Danube. 
 
 In vain Kossuth adhered to the plan of Dembinski 
 and Vetter, according to which the victorious Ma- 
 gyar army was to divide into two great halves, — one 
 to invade Austria or Styria, and the other Galicia, 
 with a view to transfer the field of battle and the re- 
 volution beyond the frontiers of Hungary. In vain 
 was Gorgey urged to lead forward his army resolutely, 
 in order to gain a decisive step before the Russians 
 invaded the country ; all orders and entreaties were 
 thrown away on the obstinacy of this general, who, 
 while professing his readiness to ob<ey,* never executed 
 the commands that issued from Debreczin. 
 
 On the 2d of May, General Legedics announced 
 by beat of drum in Cracow, that the Russians were on 
 their march, to enter the Austrian territory as allies. 
 
182 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 The weakness of Austria was proclaimed with a certain 
 pomp. The drummers were ordered to beat the death- 
 march, as at the last moments of a criminal led out to 
 execution. The Austrian government had pronounced 
 its own sentence. 
 
 On the 4th of May, seventeen thousand Russians 
 crossed the frontier via Cracow ; on the following day 
 twenty-two thousand, with eleven thousand four hun- 
 dred and fifty horses. On the 8th, fifteen thousand 
 crossed the frontier to Tarnogrod, and twenty-six 
 thousand to Brody, with nine thousand eight hundred 
 horses. On the 9th, seventeen thousand men entered 
 Wolosezys, and on the 11th followed nine thousand 
 by way of Hussyatyn. At the same time the Russian 
 columns from the Bukowina and Wallachia were set 
 in motion in the direction of Transylvania. In all, 
 Paskiewitcz advanced at the head of one hundred and 
 six thousand men, with twenty-three thousand cavalry. 
 Under him commanded the generals-in-chief Riidiger 
 and Tscheodajeff. At the same time (May 5th) the 
 young Emperor Francis Joseph went for the first time 
 to Vienna, and formally assumed the command-in- 
 chief of the army. 
 
 On the 12th of May, the emperor issued a manifesto 
 to the Hungarians, announcing the Russian interven- 
 tion, and again summoning them to an unconditional 
 surrender. In answer to this, the Hungarians advanced 
 the same day to Sommerein, after scattering to the 
 winds an Austrian brigade. But Gorgey on this occa- 
 sion played with human life for the mere sake of sport ; 
 on the following day he recalled his troops from Som- 
 merein. The whole of the Large Schiitt island, the 
 left bank of .the Waag and the right bank of the Da- 
 nube, up to Raab and Hochstrass, were in his power, — 
 
CRUELTIES OF HAYNAU. 183 
 
 in his rear not a single soldier of the enemy, before 
 him a defeated army, "which had great difficulty in col- 
 lecting again and recruiting its ranks. Thus stood 
 Gorgey, we might say, before the castle of Pressburg, 
 before the gates of Vienna, and wasted in criminal 
 wantonness his most favourable and precious time, and 
 the finest forces of his country. 
 
 On the 30th of May, Baron Haynau was invested 
 with unlimited- powers. He came still hot from -the 
 slaughter at Brescia — heralded by the worst reputa- 
 tion of his age. At the storming at Brescia he ob- 
 served a priest, who from a barricade had fired several 
 shots at him. " The fellow will not hit me," said he ; 
 " I shall not fall by the hand of the enemy, but by 
 assassination. " He now came from the land where 
 murder is naturalized, to a country of open, honour- 
 able warfare ; here he had no cause of apprehension 
 from the assassin's blow, and he has shown his ability 
 to make the most of his power after his own fashion. 
 
 The traveller in mountainous regions often stands 
 upon the edge of an abyss, so deep, and dark, and 
 fearful, that he shudders to look down into the chasm. 
 With a similar feeling humanity recoils before the 
 character of this Haynau, scarcely daring to cast a 
 glance into its depths, so frightful is every outward 
 and visible manifestation of the influences there at 
 work. Hardly had he received the command, hardly 
 had he time to muster his forces, to reconnoitre the 
 ground upon which he was to begin the war in earnest, 
 hardly had he issued a single order of the day, when 
 already two sentences of death had received his signa- 
 ture. Baron Mednianski died on the gallows, and 
 with him Gruber, on the 5th of June at Pressburg. 
 The former as commandant, and the latter as artillery- 
 
184 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 man, had taken an active part in the defence of Leo- 
 poldstadt. A cry of horror rang through the whole 
 empire, a wild cry of revenge echoed through Hun- 
 gary, when people saw the manner in which Haynau 
 passed sentence on his prisoners of war ; and hardly 
 had the pale look of horror disappeared from men's 
 countenances, when the sentence of death was passed 
 and executed (June 18th) on the priest Razga. In 
 vain, had the citizens of Pressburg supplicated mercy 
 for this universally honoured man : he was doomed to 
 the gallows, and ever since that time the hangman has 
 had full employment wherever Haynau's courts-mar- 
 tial have been held. But with all his bloody sentences 
 Haynau could only create martyrs, — to intimidate, to 
 terrify, to disarm, to convince, he was unable. 
 
 The battles between the opposed armies continued 
 with brief intermission. The Hungarian generals 
 carried on the war upon a small scale with alternate 
 success, but attended with a great sacrifice of life, 
 and the clear stream of the Waag was too often 
 reddened with the blood of the slain. 
 
 In the middle of this cold mountain-stream arise 
 here and there hot springs, coming and disappearing 
 according to secret laws of nature ; from out the blood- 
 red water a white column of steam arose, curled on 
 the surface, and passed away. This was frequently 
 to be seen in the month of June at Ujhely, Pischtyan, 
 and Szered. 
 
 At the last town the Austrians attempted, after 
 repeated and fruitless attacks, to effect a passage. 
 Their scouts met with no enemy on the further bank ; 
 it seemed as if the latter, alarmed at the approach of 
 the Russians, had abandoned the defence of the 
 Waag, and retreated in the direction of Komorn. A 
 
BATTLE OF THE EABNITZ. 185 
 
 battalion of infantry, two companies of riflemen, and 
 a foot- battery crossed the river on one of the hastily- 
 constructed pontoon-bridges. But the left bank of 
 the Waag proved fatal ground to the imperial generals, 
 — it was this time the grave of a battalion. Hardly 
 had they reached Sempte, when the Hungarians 
 charged impetuously out of the forest, which borders 
 the chain of the Carpathians. The last corps of the 
 Austrians succeeded in regaining the bridge, and 
 reaching the other side; but the greater portion of 
 the troops, together with their cannon and standard, 
 were lost. Even those who afterward escaped to the 
 river could not get over, for the first body of fugitives, 
 thinking only of their own safety, had destroyed the 
 bridge behind them. The Waag is deep and rapid, 
 and most of the soldiers trusted themselves rather to 
 the mercy of the Hungarians than of the river-god. 
 
 Of all the engagements which were fought at this 
 time at different points, and in which both parties 
 suffered considerable loss, the battle on the Rabnitz, 
 near Csorna, caused by the rashness of an Austrian 
 staff-officer, was the most important. 
 
 Colonel Zesner of the imperial regiment of Uhlans 
 had been appointed to command the Wyss brigade, 
 which was to join the first division under Schlik. On 
 the 13th of May, Wyss had orders to advance upon 
 Csorna, to cover the right flank of Schlik's army, who 
 was moving toward Raab. The evening before Colonel 
 Zesner wished to reconnoitre the enemy's positions, 
 and for this purpose hired a peasant's cart, pointing 
 out to the driver the road he was to take. The Magyar 
 peasant knew the country well, and must have been 
 aware that Hungarian outposts were advanced far in 
 this direction ; nevertheless it did not enter his head 
 
186 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 to •call the colonel's attention to this circumstance, 
 nay he even exceeded the request of the latter, and 
 conducted him not only within the Hungarian line, 
 but into its very centre. Zesner suddenly found 
 himself in the village surrounded by peasants and 
 hussars. Resistance was evidently vain, nevertheless 
 he used his pallascMov some time against the peasantry 
 with success. An old captain of hussars, who proba- 
 bly felt interested in the brave officer, likewise laid 
 about him with a stick, and forced his way: through 
 the crowd to the cart, against which the colonel stood 
 leaning to defend himself. The hussar called on him 
 to surrender,— a sabre-stroke was the reply. Colonel 
 Zesner was now a lost man — he fell bleeding from a 
 hundred wounds. In his pocket was found the order 
 of the day for the morrow, and thus the plan of the 
 advance was betrayed. 
 
 At daybreak on the 13th a strong Hungarian 
 column debouched across the Rabnitz at Marczalto, 
 and attacked the brigade on the right flank. Its force 
 had been unwarrantably weakened, the passages of 
 the Rabnitz had been insufficiently manned, and in 
 addition to all this was Zesner's disaster with the 
 order of the day. These circumstances combined led 
 to the defeat of the Wyss brigade, — the severest blow 
 which the Austrians had experienced for some time. 
 
 Four battalions of infantry, two companies of rifle- 
 men, three divisions of Uhlans, and three batteries, 
 constituted the force of this brigade. But distributed 
 as it was, (the outposts were already on the Lake of 
 Konyi,) its single divisions were unable to resist a con- 
 centrated attack. The peasants of Csorna and the 
 surrounding villages, who were prepared for the blow, 
 did their part : more than a third of the brigade was 
 
DEFEAT OF THE AUSTRIANS. 187 
 
 lost. The Uhlans fought with superhuman bravery, 
 to cover the retreat as effectually as possible : General 
 Wyss himself held out in their ranks, until he fell from 
 his horse, severely wounded, into the hands of the pur- 
 suing enemy. 
 
 But, as was invariably the case in such discomfitures 
 of the Austrians, the fault of this occurrence was laid 
 to the charge of Hungarian spies. The chaplain and 
 schoolmaster of the village of Siplan were arrested 
 under suspicion and conducted to (Edenburg. And 
 yet this time at least the whole treason was found 
 sticking in the pocket of the unlucky colonel, and in 
 the false dispositions of the commander of the brigade. 
 
 A week later, these disasters of the Austrians were 
 fearfully paid back, and the petty warfare gave place 
 to greater battles. But to- form a correct conception 
 of the following events, and a fair estimate of Kossuth 
 and Gbrgey, a few preliminary remarks are necessary. 
 
 The reader will recollect that Gorgey encamped 
 before Buda with 30,000 men, in direct opposition to 
 the command of the government. After this error 
 had been committed, which Gorgey endeavoured to 
 palliate by a courteous excuse, Kossuth could only in- 
 sist that Buda should be taken as speedily as possible ; 
 for to raise the siege of this quasi-fortress would have 
 produced too mischievous an impression on the army 
 and throughout the country. Meanwhile Kossuth was 
 meditating to remove Gorgey from the command. He 
 valued him as a brave general, but considered him a 
 better tactician than strategist, seeing that a series of 
 such brilliant victories had been turned to no better 
 account. Repressing any suspicion of intentional 
 treachery, as often as it arose in his mind, he offered 
 Gorgey the portfolio of the war ministry, and ap- 
 
188 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 pointed Damianich to the chief command of the army 
 of the Danube. 
 
 Gorgey accepted the offer, and spoke of Kossuth's 
 choice as the best possible. Nevertheless he did not 
 leave the army, but wrote word that he must first take 
 Buda. Meanwhile he endeavoured to remove from his 
 side those generals who adhered to Kossuth as the 
 highest expression of power, and at length even pre- 
 vailed on Damianich to go in his stead to Debreczin 
 and join the ministry. Damianich started, but met 
 with a fall from his carriage and broke his leg. 
 
 Kossuth was greatly alarmed by Gbrgey's disobe- 
 dience, no less than by the accident that had befallen 
 Damianich. He now saw no possibility of finding a 
 worthy successor to Gorgey. Dembinski and Vetter 
 were both out of the question : Bern had enough to 
 occupy him in Transylvania, and Damianich, the only 
 man who could be measured with Gorgey, was hors de 
 combat, — Damianich, whom Kossuth prized above all 
 others, whom he trusted the most. And rightly too ; 
 it was Damianich to whom, after Gorgey, belonged the 
 glory of all the battles from Hatvan to Komorn. 
 
 In consequence of the unfortunate accident to Da- 
 mianich, Gorgey retained the command. He made 
 Kossuth the proposal to transfer it to Bern, well know- 
 ing that Kossuth would not consent to such a step ; 
 and thus he remained minister of war and commander- 
 in-chief of the finest division of the army. To fulfil 
 the duties of the first ofiice he went frequently to 
 Buda, meanwhile intrusting his corps to the chief of 
 his staff. This officer, named Bayer, was his favourite ; 
 he commanded the movements on the Waag, behind 
 the line of operation, and was the cause of the losses 
 which the Hungarians sustained in that quarter, — 
 
PLAN OF OPERATIONS. 189 
 
 losses which Gorgey always repaired in a brilliant 
 manner on his return from Buda. No wonder that his 
 soldiers worshipped him, or that he appeared to them 
 a being of a higher order, coming to the relief of his 
 sub-officers, whom he everywhere exposed from motives 
 of remorseless vanity. Gorgey henceforth paid not 
 the slightest regard to the general plan of operations 
 which had been agreed upon at Debreczin. Accord- 
 ing to this plan, he was to have moved with 50,000 
 of the choicest troops to the right bank of the Danube. 
 The road was open to him. With Komorn as a point 
 d'appui, he was to have given battle to the Austrians, 
 if Haynau accepted it. If victorious, he was to have 
 marched direct upon Vienna ; but if Haynau avoided 
 a battle, he was then to have driven him over the 
 frontier. In case- the Hungarians were defeated, they 
 would have had in Komorn support enough to venture 
 a second battle, aided by reinforcements from the 
 Upper Theiss and the Banat. The war against the 
 Russians would only then have begun, and if success- 
 ful the Hungarian generals would have been enabled 
 to transfer the scene of the war to Gralicia or Austria.* 
 But in the worst event — as had been agreed — 50,000 
 to 60,000 men would still have remained together, to 
 force the road by Fiume into the territory of Trieste 
 
 * According to Kossuth's statement, the number and distribu- 
 tion of the Magyar forces were at that time as follow: — 
 
 Gorgey's corps (after all losses) 45,000 men. 
 
 In the Banat 30,000 " 
 
 In Transylvania 40,000 " 
 
 On the Upper Theiss (county of Saros) 12,000 " 
 
 In the Marmoros 6,000 " 
 
 In Peterwardein 8,000 " 
 
 141,000 men. 
 
190 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 and come to the aid of the Italians, — a turn of affairs 
 which might have been of the greatest importance to 
 the whole of Europe, especially when it is reflected that 
 a large portion of Radetzky's army consisted of Hun- 
 garian regiments. 
 
 Austria, alone, would not have been able to withstand 
 this shock, and the advance of Russian troops so far 
 into the west would have set Europe in flames. 
 
 Gorgey's conduct since the battle of Szony can only 
 be designated as the insubordination of stubbornness 
 and self-will, amounting, in fact, to treachery. No 
 court-martial in the world could possibly put a milder 
 construction upon his actions. He allowed Welden 
 quietly to depart, Jellachich to escape ; he allowed the 
 Russians time to invade the country. What shadow of 
 a reason can be alleged for such conduct in a military 
 point of view ? And yet, after all, there was still time 
 to resume the original plan of operations, and to attack 
 the Austrians on the right bank of the Danube. Again 
 he promised this, in a despatch to the government, and 
 again he broke his word. Instead of adhering to the 
 concerted plan, he led his troops across the Waag, and 
 was beaten. 
 
 This was the battle at Pered and Szigard, the first 
 in which the Russian troops of the Paniutin division 
 took part — the battle which compensated the Austri- 
 ans for their defeats at Szered and Csorna — the first 
 battle in which Gorgey's troops fled. 
 
 With thirty thousand men and one hundred and 
 eighty cannon, he crossed the Waag, which had hith- 
 erto been the line of separation between the two armies. 
 Here he was opposed to Wohlgemuth, whose inferior 
 forces were obliged to yield before the impetuous 
 attacks of the Hungarians. This brave general re- 
 
BATTLE OF PERED AND SZIGARD. 191 
 
 treated fighting from one position to another, with 
 astonishing regularity ; but his troops were harassed 
 with fatigue, his cannon were silenced by Gorgey's 
 superior artillery, his cavalry could no longer stand 
 their ground against the hussars,' his columns of in- 
 fantry began to fall into disorder, and he would have 
 been doomed to a second day of misfortune like that 
 of Sarlo, had not the Russian Paniutin division appeared 
 at the right moment on the field of battle. Its columns 
 advanced in the midst of the heaviest fire, like walls, 
 set in motion by an invisible power, and every gap in 
 their front ranks was instantly filled up. Vain was 
 the bravery of the Honveds, the self-devotion of the 
 hussars ; they stood here for the first time opposed to 
 Russian troops, arriving fresh from the camp to the 
 field of battle. Wohlgemuth, meanwhile, gained time 
 to lead his troops again into action, who took courage 
 when they saw their allies stand their ground. Gor- 
 gey's army was threatened in flank, and his troops 
 began to be harassed ; the tables were turned, — he was 
 now the weaker, and his left wing fell into disorder. 
 He was obliged to retreat to Negyed, which he effected 
 with great loss of men and cannon. The burning of 
 the bridges hindered the enemy's immediate pursuit, 
 but Gorgey was compelled to retreat to Gutta with his 
 flying army, to recover his lost ground on a better 
 opportunity. This never presented itself. 
 
 In the south, the tricolour waved far and wide — in 
 the Banat, on the Theiss, on the windings of the Da- 
 nube, as far as Orcsova. Szenfca had already fallen in 
 March, and the Serbs cried "treason," and threw all 
 the blame of their disaster upon Herdi, a staff-officer. 
 On the 30th of March, Nugent was likewise obliged to 
 evacuate Zombor, and the Bacska was entirely freed 
 
192 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 from the Austrians. On the 2d of April, Perczel took 
 the dreaded fortress of St. Thomas ; Captain Bosnicz 
 was unable to save this venerable monument of Serbian 
 bravery, which was converted into a heap of ruins. 
 Peterwardein stood firm as the rock on which it is 
 built ; four battalions guarded this key of the Danube, 
 to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. 
 Temeswar was invested by Vecsey, Arad by Vetter 
 and Gaal, with a view to prevent any offensive opera- 
 tions from those quarters. In the middle of April, 
 Perczel advanced victoriously with the Tschaikist bat- 
 talion ; he found Csurug, Zabalj, Gjurgjevo, deserted 
 by all their inhabitants, and left behind him in burning 
 ruins Kacnadaly, Kach, St. Ivan, Grardinova, Upper 
 and Lower Kovily. On the 10th of April, he entered 
 Panchova, and the South-Sclavish journals unite to 
 extol the moderation and humanity of this impetuous 
 man, who never had faith in a victory unless his enemy 
 was laid in the grave. 
 
 Meanwhile, the ban was endeavouring to push for- 
 ward to the north and west, without succeeding for any 
 length of time, although he was able to regain a foot- 
 ing between the Panube and the Theiss, and to invest 
 Peterwardein ; in the course of the campaign, however, 
 we shall see him again in retreat to Ruma and Mitro- 
 vicz. Theodorovich had been driven beyond Panchova, 
 and Knicanin remained fixed in the strong positions on 
 the Theiss. Stratimirovich — one of the youngest and 
 most able commanders of the Serbs, but the most fickle, 
 ambitious, and faithless of all the hundred thousand 
 armed men fighting on the Hungarian soil — occupied 
 the Roman intrenchments with his troops. 
 
 The din of war had ceased in Transylvania, since 
 the Russians and Austrians had been driven beyond 
 
BEM AND KOSSUTH. 193 
 
 the passes and out of the country. The fields were all 
 under cultivation, and shone in the brightest green ; 
 the passes were barricaded under the personal direc- 
 tions of Bern, who indefatigably sought to take advan- 
 tage of this pause in the campaign to assist the Magyar 
 generals on the Theiss and Maros, in the cabinet and 
 the field. 
 
 Kossuth readily sought counsel at different periods 
 of the war from the experienced Polish general, and 
 Bern always spoke with reverence of the genius of the 
 great Magyar. When, after Gorgey's April campaign, 
 Bern was present at the general council of war in De- 
 breczin, he and the governor were mostly together. 
 They were destined not to meet again until before 
 Arad. Bern had himself barred the gates of Transyl- 
 vania ; he declared that with ten thousand legionaries 
 he would from that time hold the country against a 
 world of enemies ; but the brave German legion was 
 dead, a portion of the army he had employed else- 
 where, and he himself was absent when the enemy 
 pressed forward simultaneously on all sides. The 
 brave mountaineers defended the positions assigned to 
 them with heroic devotion ; but the Russian generals 
 had received orders not to spare human life ; the 
 passes and hollows were filled with dead bodies, and 
 the Cossacks entered the soil of Hungary amid slaugh- 
 ter and desolation. 
 
 18 
 
194 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN — BEM, LUDERS, ENGLEHARDT, FREITAG, 
 
 GROTJENHELM CAPITULATION OF ARAD — THE BARON DE PAM- 
 
 PLUN — BATTLE OF HEGYES — PASKIE WITCH, RUDIGER, KUPRIA- 
 
 NOFF, TSCHEODAJEFF DEMBINSKI FLIGHT TO DEBRECZIN 
 
 GRABBE AND BENITZKI — HAYNAU ASSUMES THE OFFENSIVE 
 
 THE AUSTRIANS IN RAAB. 
 
 Let the reader picture to himself Hungary, with 
 the exception of Croatia, Sclavonia, and Dalmatia, as 
 a circular plain, surrounded externally by the Austro- 
 Russian army, and internally by the Hungarian troops, 
 and he will thus form a general survey of the disposi- 
 tion of the opposed forces. Two concentric circles 
 of troops encompassed the kingdom in the month of 
 July, seeking to keep one another in check, the ex- 
 ternal forces being destined to operate in a centripetal, 
 and the internal forces in a centrifugal, direction. 
 The outer circle of troops was superior in numbers ; 
 its ranks were supplied from two powerful empires, 
 and a large semicircle of railroads — from Cracow to 
 Vienna and Gratz — facilitated the combination of its 
 elements. The inner circle did not possess this ad- 
 vantage, and had only half the numerical strength of 
 the enemy ; on the other hand, from having its re- 
 sources in the centre and a smaller semi-diameter, 
 it was enabled at pleasure to operate more compactly 
 on any point of attack. 
 
 Let the reader imagine further, that the Russian 
 
POSITION OF AFFAIRS. 195 
 
 troops were led on to a field of battle quite new to 
 them, that the Austrian army had to be reinforced 
 by recruits from all the provinces and garrisons, and 
 that most of them were marched across the frontier 
 against their will ; while Hungary led an army to the 
 field, the heart of which was tried, steeled, inflamed 
 with victory, and self-relying ; it may be asserted that 
 the probability of success was equally divided between 
 the two armies. 
 
 The positions of the two armies at the beginning 
 of the campaign were as follow. Proceeding from 
 east to west, we find the remains of Puchner's corps 
 under Clam-Gallas in Wallachia, joined by the wreck 
 of the Croatian army under Jellachich on the Drave 
 and Lower Danube. These again were connected with 
 Haynau's right wing by the Pettau camp, and with 
 his main army by Oedenburg and Bruk. His left wing 
 was closed by the Russian Paniutin division, which 
 was connected with the Russian main army by de- 
 tached Austrian corps, while the former completed 
 the outer circle in the Bukowina and the principalities. 
 Opposed to these masses of troops stood Bern in 
 Transylvania, — Vecksey, Vetter, and Perczel in the 
 south, — Dembinski and Visocky in the northern coun- 
 ties, — Gorgey on the Waag and Danube. 
 
 About the middle of June the general advance of 
 the imperial armies was commenced. Liiders opened 
 the dance. On the 13th his vanguard set out from 
 Bukarest in the direction of the Tomb's Pass ; on the 
 16th he himself followed, and on the 19th he drove 
 the Hungarians from their strong position on the Bre- 
 dial ; on the 20th he stormed Kersten in the valley of 
 Tomb's, which was held by Colonel Kiss with heroic 
 courage until he fell mortally wounded into the hands 
 
196 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 of the enemy : on the 21st Liiders entered Cronstadt. 
 At the same time General Engelhardt had penetrated 
 through the Torzburg Pass ; while the third Russian 
 column under General Freitag, notwithstanding a 
 great sacrifice of life, could not succeed in holding the 
 Ojtos Pass. 
 
 Starting from Cronstadt, Liiders and Hasford at- 
 tempted the conquest of the Szeklers ; but this wild, 
 Centaur-like people drove the enemy out of their val- 
 leys, and forced the two generals back to Cronstadt. 
 Meanwhile Grotjenhelm had entered the country from 
 the north, stormed in succession Marosheny, Borgo- 
 Prund, Illovanika, Bistriz, (25th,) and was preparing 
 to penetrate further, when Bern hastened to the scene 
 of action, drove the Russians out of Bistriz on the 
 26th, and on the 2d of July back to the Borgo Pass. 
 His presence inflamed the Szeklers to a struggle of 
 despair ; under their chief, Gal-Sandor, they pressed 
 forwards to Prasmar ; Generals Adlerberg and Jesau- 
 low, who had been sent against them by Liiders, were 
 again compelled to retreat to Cronstadt. Liiders, 
 feeling himself too weak to advance further into the 
 country, waited in his strong position until Clam-Gal- 
 las could join him. On the 12th Bern operated against 
 Nagy-Sajo, and passed this place, but on the other 
 side encountered the superior forces of the Rus- 
 sians ; he was obliged to return, and again to abandon 
 Bistriz. As he was driving out of the town, a shot 
 was fired from an ambush — probably intended for the 
 Polish general. He was unhurt, but his aide-de-camp 
 Lukenics, who was sitting by his side in the carriage, 
 fell mortally wounded. Once more Bern with his 
 wonted rapidity collected all the variously disposed 
 Szekler corps, without the enemy's being able to pre- 
 
PETERWARDEIN INVESTED. 197 
 
 vent him ; nor did he for an instant lose the hope of 
 retaining possession of a country which had become 
 endeared to him as the battle-field of his fame, his 
 genius, his hate. 
 
 The ban had for two months played a similar part 
 in the south to that which Hammerstein and Yogi had 
 previously played in the north. He marched con- 
 tinually upwards, while he read in the newspapers 
 of his imaginary heroic deeds against Peterwardein, 
 Szegedin and Theresiopel, without having advanced a 
 single step. At O'Becse, indeed, he attacked Perczel's 
 rear on the 25th of June, with double the force of the 
 Hungarians ; the battle, which commenced hotly, 
 promised to be a decisive one, but Jellachich on the 
 same evening retired toward St. Thomas and Foldvar. 
 Together with his self-confidence he had lost all reso- 
 lution of action. Equally undecisive was the battle 
 which the Magyars fought at Titel against Knicanin ; 
 they were unable to force the passage of the river : in 
 vain the Serbs sacrificed their lives before Perlass, — 
 the Theiss remained the basis of operation to both 
 armies. 
 
 Peterwardein was meanwhile invested on one side, 
 and although this colossal fortress had as little to fear 
 from storm as from bombardment, yet its relief was 
 necessarily, for strategical reasons, the main object 
 of the Hungarian generals in the south. The Aus- 
 trians under Lieutenant-fieldmarshal Berger had eva- 
 cuated Arad, "the grayheaded commander and the 
 brave garrison having been dismissed with honourable 
 conditions. The investing corps was thus able to join 
 the Hungarian army of the south, which it consider- 
 ably reinforced. Its commanders had for a twelve- 
 month past an opportunity of learning something; 
 
198 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Bern had himself drawn out the best plans of opera- 
 tion, Perczel had been rendered circumspect by expe- 
 rience, and Guyon commanded under Vetter — Guyon, 
 the bravest of the brave, who was himself a host. 
 
 Guyon was at Hegyes, in the county of Bacs, when 
 Jellachich formed the plan of annihilating him by a 
 great nocturnal surprise. Jellachich is no man of 
 calculation : this was evident at the commencement 
 of the war, when he marched into Hungary with the 
 firm conviction that all the Magyar imperial regiments 
 would go over to him ; he has also proved this as a 
 politician, no less than on the field of battle, where 
 he was frequently beaten at the very moment when he 
 thought himself sure of victory. So likewise at this 
 time. Informed by spies of the position of the Ma- 
 gyars, he set out on the 14th of July, with the inten- 
 tion of surprising them in the darkness of the night ; 
 but the arrow recoiled upon the marksman. Guyon, 
 having received timely information that the ban, whom 
 he usually called "the perjured jack-pudding," con- 
 templated to honour him with a visit, made his arrange- 
 ments quietly though hastily to receive the uninvited 
 guest in a becoming manner. 
 
 At midnight Jellachich set out from Verbasz, and 
 advanced at daybreak, with full expectation of success, 
 into the defile of Hegyes, without having even de- 
 spatched a side-detachment towards Feketehegy or 
 Szeghegy. He was already fixed in the trap, when 
 the first cannon-shot thundered on the flank of his 
 troops. This was Guyon's morning salutation, which 
 found an echo on all sides. The shades of night were 
 still struggling with the morning mists, when it be- 
 came clear to the Austrians that every step in advance 
 was one nearer to eternity. Now began the disastrous 
 
GUYON. 199 
 
 retreat through the cross-fire of the Hungarian batte- 
 ries. The flight lasted without intermission to the 
 Francis Canal, to Verbasz, to Ruma ; nay, even here 
 the ban did not feel secure, and removed his head- 
 quarters to Mitrovicz. 
 
 He there mustered his troops ; not a third remained 
 of those whom he had led over the canal in that night 
 of horror : the rest had fallen, been taken prisoners, 
 or were scattered to the winds. To the undaunted 
 valour of the Ottinger cavalry, which protected his 
 retreat as well as they were able, at the sacrifice of 
 their own lives, the Ban of Croatia alone owed the 
 remains of his boasted army of the south. He attri- 
 buted the failure of his enterprise to the "knavery 
 of a traitor;" a successful surprise he would have 
 doubtless called "the heroic act of a patriot." But 
 for Jellachich to talk of knavery when opposed to a 
 Guyon ! why, the character of the ban, under its best 
 aspects, can never be placed in comparison with the 
 habitually honourable spirit of Guyon, which is the 
 more admirable from its disinterested character. 
 
 The consequences of the victory were most import- 
 ant. The Bacska was freed from the enemy, the 
 Francis Canal, his most important line of operations, 
 was lost, the army of the south decimated, its remains 
 driven into a corner, scattered and demoralized ; the 
 fortress of Peterwardein on the contrary was relieved, 
 and supplied anew with provisions, ammunition, and 
 men. 
 
 Thus the opening of the second campaign could not 
 be called unfortunate for the Hungarians either in 
 Transylvania or the Banat; in the former country 
 nothing was lost — in the latter, all was won ; at both 
 points a pause in the war ensued, during which the 
 
200 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 two imperial invading armies in the north and west, 
 according to the concerted plans of the two cabinets, 
 pushed on their operations with energy. 
 
 On the 18th of June, the Russian main army, under 
 the command of Prince Paskiewitsch, crossed the natu- 
 ral boundary between Hungary and Galicia. The 
 third corps of infantry, under Rtidiger, had advanced 
 its vanguard to Hethars, and was the first that en- 
 countered the Hungarians. But the adverse forces 
 were too unequal for any serious battle, and the Hunga- 
 rians retired to their head-quarters at Eperies. Rii diger 
 marched against that town on the 23d ; the second 
 infantry corps, under Lieutenant-general Kuprianoff, 
 advanced in the same direction, while the fourth, under 
 General Tscheodajeff,- remained at Bartfeld. On this 
 demonstration, which was intended for the left wing 
 of Dembinski's army, the latter retired in the night 
 of the 22d to Kaschau, abandoning Eperies without 
 striking a blow to Tscheodajeff, who took possession 
 of the town on the following day. 
 
 On the 25th, the newly concentrated Russian army 
 set out for Kaschau, and, contrary to their expectation, 
 found this place likewise deserted. It was evident that 
 Dembinski wished to draw the Russian generals on to 
 a precipitate pursuit, but the difficulty of provisioning 
 the army from Galicia rendered it impossible for the 
 Prince of Warsaw to advance rapidly. He allowed 
 his troops a day's rest on the 25th, and (28th) divided 
 his army into two columns at Kaschau. One of these 
 divisions, under Rtidiger and Kuprianoff, took the di- 
 rection to the south, and on the 30th reached Mis- 
 kolcz ; while Dembinski, still retreating, marched to 
 Gyongyos, and Lieutenant-general Sass with the rear 
 of the main army occupied Eperies, from whence he 
 
TSCHEODAJEFF AT DEBRECZIN. 201 
 
 was ordered to reinforce Riidiger's corps. The other 
 corps, under Tscheodajeff, took the road by Tallya to 
 Tokay ; and on the same spot where Schlik had been 
 beaten by Klapka, a small number of hussars and 
 Honveds stood their ground to try the fortune of bat- 
 tle against the invaders. They were driven back to 
 Tokay without much trouble, where they joined a 
 strong Hungarian corps, intended to cover the passage 
 of the Theiss at its junction with the Bodrog ; but a 
 few hundred Cossacks swam through the river above 
 and below the point of passage, and put the Hunga- 
 rians to flight, who had but just time partially to 
 destroy the bridge. This occurred on the 30th of 
 June at noon, and the same evening the Russian out- 
 posts occupied the left bank of the Theiss, having thus 
 crossed the line of separation which the Magyars had 
 hitherto succeeded in maintaining against their Aus- 
 trian foes. 
 
 Tscheodajeff encountered no enemy on his road to 
 Debreczin, where he arrived on the 3d of July, and 
 quartered his soldiers in the houses, whose melancholy 
 aspect exhibited no appearance of their having so long 
 been the residence of Kossuth and the great Hungarian 
 nobles. Tscheodajeff's corps remained here until want, 
 and probably likewise the vicinity of ten thousand 
 Hungarians encamped at Piispoki, obliged them to re- 
 treat. The Russian general was in such want of pro- 
 visions for his troops, that he could not even carry off 
 the arms taken from the citizens of Debreczin, and 
 was obliged to destroy them. The motives of this iso- 
 lated, purposeless expedition may partly be found in 
 the vanity of the Russian fieldmarshal, who wished to 
 be the first to march into Debreczin, — a point which 
 
202 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 the Austrians had as yet failed to reach, — partly in 
 his erroneous belief that the capture of this town would 
 destroy the courage of the Hungarians. The Russian 
 general had forgotten the history of Moscow and his 
 own country ; nor did he know that Debreczin without 
 Kossuth was worth to the Magyars no more than any 
 other town in the kingdom. 
 
 We have hitherto observed three Russian divisions 
 in their combined and isolated manoeuvres in the north ; 
 further to the west we meet the fourth, under the im- 
 perial General Grabbe. 
 
 This general was to have covered Cracow, but he 
 afterward received orders to advance from Jordanow, 
 and on the 19th he took up his head-quarters in Also- 
 Kubin. His destination was to press forward from the 
 counties of Liptau and Arva across the Waag, in the 
 direction of the mining districts, in order thence to 
 effect a junction with the Austrian main army, and 
 direct his march towards Pesth, Komorn, or Trent- 
 schin, according to circumstances. Crossing the Waag 
 at Miklos, he reached Rosenberg ; but the whole coun- 
 try swarmed with guerilla-bands, which prevented his 
 obtaining provisions, seized on his ammunition-wagons, 
 endangered his operations, and annoyed him in every 
 way ; while Benitzki, with a portion of the Polish 
 legion, was strong enough to hinder a forced advance. 
 Under these circumstances Grabbe could only retreat 
 to Kubin, where he was nearer to his resources ; and 
 here he remained closely beset, in a state of inactivity, 
 until Benitzki, more punctually obeying the orders of 
 the council of war than Gorgey, followed the Hunga- 
 rian main corps in the direction of the Theiss. Grabbe 
 now for the first time succeeded in occupying Krem- 
 
HAYNAU ADVANCES ON RAAB. 203 
 
 nitz on the 8th of July, and Schemnitz on the 10th ; 
 still later, by means of his vanguard under Major- 
 general Betancourt, he effected a junction with the 
 Austrian General Csorich by Kis-Tapolcsan. 
 
 Thus the net of the enemy was drawn continually 
 closer and closer. The Hungarians, as had been de- 
 termined in the council of war, retreated from the north 
 into the interior of the country, in order to form a 
 junction with Gorgey's corps at a given point ; for it 
 was easy to foresee that Gorgey would be pressed from 
 the west, whence Austria, together with her own col- 
 lected forces, likewise led the Russian Paniutin divi- 
 sion to the scene of action. 
 
 On the 27th of June, a few days after the battle of 
 Pered and Czigard, Haynau assumed the offensive, and 
 directed his army in three columns concentrically 
 upon Raab. The right wing under Wohlgemuth, with 
 the Benedek brigade as van-guard, was ordered to 
 advance from Enese, to threaten the left flank of the 
 Hungarians ; the centre under Schlik was to follow 
 the highroad from Pressburg to Raab, and the left 
 wing to pass through the Little Schutt by way of 
 Dunas. The Russian Paniutin division and the 
 Bechtold cavalry remained in reserve at Lebeny and 
 Sovenyhaza. 
 
 Francis Joseph commanded the Paniutin division to 
 defile before him, and led the first corps oVarmee in 
 person toward Hochstrass. Gorgey, threatened in his 
 left flank by Wohlgemuth, withdrew his troops, after 
 an unimportant resistance across the Alda-bridge. 
 Here Schlik joined Wohlgemuth, while the third 
 Austrian corps advancing from Papa had already 
 crossed the Raab at Marczalto, and threatened Raab 
 
204 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 itself on the left flank. Gorgey could not possibly 
 hold the town against such superior numbers, and he 
 had therefore withdrawn in the night of the 27th with 
 his main force towards Acs, leaving behind only a 
 rearguard of 8000 men in the intrenchments of Raab, 
 to cover his retreat. These likewise abandoned their 
 position after a fruitless resistance, and followed the 
 main corps. The young emperor entered the city as 
 a conqueror at the head of his troops. 
 
HAYNAU ADVANCES. 205 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ADVANCE OP HAYNAU — THE BATTLES BEFORE KOMORN — SCHLIK, 
 BENEDEK, PANIUTIN — GORGET — KLAPKA — GORGEY AND NAGY 
 SANDOR — BEM'S LAST CAMPAIGN IN TRANSYLVANIA — BATTLE AT 
 HATVAN — GORGEY ON THE SAJO, HERNAD, AND THEISS — PERCZEL's 
 STRATEGY. 
 
 Soon after the taking of Raab, Haynau removed 
 his head-quarters to Babolna ; Gorgey's troops were 
 encamped at Acs, opposite to Komorn. Here he 
 remained, protected by the newly-erected ramparts, 
 which may be considered as the completion of the 
 fortress on the left, to check the masses of troops 
 which Haynau was leading on the Buda road toward 
 the metropolis. Under him in command were Polten- 
 berg, Knezich, Nagy Sandor, Bayer, and Leiningen. 
 Klapka had assumed the command of the garrison in 
 the fortress. 
 
 The Austrian lieutenant-fieldmarshal showed, at 
 the very commencement of the operations, that he 
 was on his guard against falling into the errors of his 
 predecessor. All his manoeuvres from Pressburg to 
 Temesvar were evidently directed to the object of 
 ending the war by great and rapid strokes. He was 
 moreover unwilling to leave much for the Russians to 
 do, as was proved by the haste with which he advanced 
 toward Buda, Szegedin, and Arad, — a haste which, 
 in spite of the fortunate issue, cannot be strategically 
 justified, since it endangered all ; whereas by a less 
 
206 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 hurried advance, and more in concert with the Rus- 
 sian operations, little or no risk would have been 
 encountered. But Haynau appears to be a man of 
 extremes, in the field as in the cabinet ; he wanted to 
 press Gorgey to open the road to Buda, and for this 
 purpose he resolved to make a general attack on the 
 intrenchments. 
 
 Haynau's centre was posted at Nagy-Igmand, his 
 left wing in the direction of Acs, his right at Kisber. 
 On the 1st of July he ordered the reserve corps under 
 Wohlgemuth to advance from Igmand toward Puszta 
 Chem, followed by the Paniutin division. The attack 
 commenced on the 2d from these positions. The 
 Benedek infantry brigade, the Bechtold cavalry di- 
 vision, and the Simbschen horse brigade, stormed 
 toward O'Szony, and were repeatedly driven back. 
 Benedek vindicated his ancient claim to the epithet of 
 the brave, and himself headed his troops. Without 
 firing a shot, they pressed forward at the point of the 
 bayonet over their dead and wounded comrades ; but 
 the heavy artillery of the Hungarians mowed down 
 their ranks, and forced them to turn, followed by the 
 hussars to Mocsa, and leaving behind them many 
 dead. The Hungarians lost a field-battery, which, 
 having advanced too far, had been taken by the 
 Lichtenstein light-horse, after a sanguinary struggle. 
 
 Meanwhile Schlik led his troops to the scene of 
 conflict, and the Reischach brigade received orders to 
 take Uj-Szony. In the vineyards surrounding this 
 village far and wide, they fell in with some light- 
 armed Honved battalions, which successfully attacked 
 them. Now began a confused conflict on the narrow 
 paths and among the vines, which at this season had 
 put forth their first leaves. A hand-to-hand fight 
 
BATTLE OF ACS. 209 
 
 was waged, with ball or bayonet, and often decided 
 by the mere strength of arm and activity of limb. 
 At length the Honveds quitted the ground, and with- 
 drew toward the village into their intrenchments ; but 
 the Austrians on the first assault took the foremost 
 line of fortification, and with a general hurrah planted 
 the black-yellow standard in the earth, without the 
 cannon of the second line, which completely commanded 
 the first, opening their fire. Not until the rampart 
 was covered with white uniforms, did they commence 
 their regular cross-fire, the murderous effect of which 
 forced the Austrians to abandon the advantage they 
 had just won. Both sides allowed themselves a mo- 
 mentary rest, — they had both earned it. 
 
 Gorgey on this day wore, contrary to his usual cus- 
 tom, the splendid red and gold-embroidered general's 
 uniform, and his white heron's feather was seen at 
 every point where any thing was to be disposed, or- 
 dered, or executed. The handsome, manly, but hard 
 features of this remarkable man never wore the full 
 expression of his soul until facing an enemy in battle : 
 that was the moment when his face exhibited the ex- 
 citement, enthusiasm, thirst of fight, and passion of 
 his nature. Whoever has seen Gorgey in battle will 
 never forget him : no wonder that his troops wor- 
 shipped him as a god. 
 
 Gorgey saw the best forces of the imperial army 
 wasting away before his Honved artillery, and it re- 
 joiced the soul of this proud man to confront the first 
 nobility of Austria as an enemy of equal rank — he, a 
 man but lately without position, name, property, or 
 ancestry, although gifted by nature with a conscious- 
 ness of his own power, and nevertheless neglected, 
 passed over in favour of young puppies of rich and 
 
 14 
 
210 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 noble families. He now saw them again, these proud 
 cavaliers of Austria, marching at the head of their 
 companies, battalions, and brigades — he saw them 
 fight, bleed, fall. 
 
 Gorgey was perhaps, on the 2d of July, undeter- 
 mined in his own mind as to his position and future 
 course of action. Whether it was the result of cool 
 calculation, or that the heat of battle carried him 
 away, we know not, but, after repeatedly repulsed 
 attacks of the Austrians, he assumed the offensive, 
 and attempted to break through the enemy's masses. 
 With this view he ordered his bravest divisions of 
 cavalry into the field ; at Uj-Szony the battle raged 
 fiercely, and extended far and wide : Puszta-Herkaly, 
 originally occupied by the Austrians, was repeatedly 
 won and lost, and the Reischach and Parma brigades 
 were decimated. At Acs twelve thousand Hungarians 
 attempted to outflank the left wing of the Austrians ; 
 both sides fought with desperation, the one to force a 
 passage, the other to prevent it. The endeavour to 
 outflank the left wing was frustrated by the Bianchi 
 brigade, who were masked by a wood ; but the centre 
 was in the utmost danger, when suddenly Paniutin, 
 the saviour at all moments of need, advanced with his 
 Russians from Puszta-Csem. The Hungarians, too 
 exhausted to recommence the battle against this new 
 enemy, withdrew into their intrenched positions. 
 Haynau himself, in a bulletin, acknowledged "the 
 timely appearance" of the Russians. The victory 
 remained undecided, but the Austrians suffered far 
 greater losses than their enemy. Haynau had be- 
 come convinced by experience that Gorgey's positions 
 were unassailable, while the latter perceived that Hay- 
 nau's masses of troops were too compact to be broken. 
 
DEBRECZIN PARLIAMENT. 211 
 
 The most fearful thing in the great tragedies of war 
 is, that the experiments of the generals are often 
 attended with a greater sacrifice of life than their 
 most brilliant successes. 
 
 The battle of the 2d of July was claimed by the 
 commanders of both armies as a victory. They were 
 both right and both wrong. Each had failed in the 
 attack — each had made a brilliant defence. But the 
 Hungarian government must have learned to perceive, 
 that such victories are nothing else than brilliant pre- 
 ludes to an inglorious end. The original plan of ope- 
 rations adopted by the general council of war had 
 been frustrated by Gorgey's obstinate self-will, espe- 
 cially after his announcing laconically to the govern- 
 ment that he was no longer able to cover their posi- 
 tion, and advised them to remove to some other town. 
 The terror created by this message spread through 
 Pesth with the rapidity of lightning. Csanyi, Vuko- 
 wich, and Szemere remained longest in the metropolis; 
 Kossuth preceded them to Czegled, to adopt the utmost 
 possible means of defence. 
 
 The diet had already been dissolved : the pressure 
 of the times allowed not of fine speeches. This De- 
 breczin parliament moreover did not respond to the 
 greatness of its task : it aimed at effecting important 
 reforms, yet shrunk back from a great crisis, waiting 
 to have this forced upon it, instead of anticipating its 
 approach. The diet comprised eloquent speakers and 
 true patriots, but no heroes in thought, most of these 
 men following implicitly the dictates of the governor. 
 A parliament may be induced to pass resolutions by 
 the force of eloquence and argument, but it ought 
 also to have the courage to carry those resolutions 
 into effect. 
 
212 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 But the government at length resolved upon a deci- 
 sive step, and appointed Meszaros, seconded by Dem- 
 binski, commander-in-chief of the Hungarian armies, 
 at the same time directing Gorgey to obey his orders. 
 Gorgey received this announcement on the 2d, just 
 as he returned heated, exhausted, and wounded from 
 battle. It might almost be imagined that he had this day 
 sought death : the words he is said to have addressed 
 to his Honveds seem to imply this : "Forward, my child- 
 ren ! the ball to-day hits me alone !" and his splendid 
 general's uniform, visible from afar, appeared inten- 
 tionally worn to serve as a target to the enemy's balls. 
 
 Fate, however, spared him ; the wound in his head 
 was trifling, but the mandate of the government 
 rankled in his heart. Only three days before he had 
 given an assurance to the Minister Csanyi, Generals 
 Kiss and Aulich, who were sent by Kossuth to his camp, 
 that he would carry out the plan of the council of war, 
 obey the instructions of the government, and lead his 
 troops to the Theiss ; nevertheless, on the evening of 
 the 2d of July all these promises were forgotten. He 
 announced briefly to the government that he would 
 no longer subject his brave troops to their decrees, but 
 would employ them in accordance with his own views, 
 and fight, uncontrolled by any commands, for the inde- 
 pendence of his country. At the same time he remained 
 quietly in his intrenchments, notwithstanding the daily 
 arrival of couriers, announcing the advance of the Rus- 
 sians by the mining districts. He knew that every hour 
 of delay on his part was one of despair to Kossuth, and 
 he wished to show that the cause of Hungary rested 
 no longer upon Kossuth's lips, but on the point of Gor- 
 gey's sword. Lamentable vanity, which devoted Gor- 
 gey himself, Kossuth, and his country to destruction ! 
 
Aulicli. 
 
GORGEY IN A NET. 215 
 
 Gorgey again endeavoured to force a passage 
 through Haynau's ranks ; it seemed the last act of 
 despair — the only alternative to his being compelled 
 to lay down his arms on the open field, wedged in be- 
 tween the Austrian army of the Danube and the ad- 
 vancing Russians. 
 
 It was on the 10th of July at noon — storm and rain 
 obscured the horizon, mist from the river and marshes 
 lay spread out upon the lowlands which were inter- 
 sected by undulating chains of hills — when the Hun- 
 garians debouched from their intrenchment in great 
 force, and simultaneously advanced to the attack on 
 different points. Gorgey, having learned that Haynau 
 had despatched a great portion of his forces on the 
 road from Bicske to Buda, sought to take advantage 
 of the error of his enemy, who appeared to him to be 
 pressing forward with rash precipitancy, while the 
 finest division of the Magyar army remained in his 
 rear. He was fated soon to discover his error. The 
 Austrian fieldmarshal had not weakened his troops 
 inconsiderately. After having removed his head- 
 quarters on the 5th to Igmand, and on the 8th to Dotis, 
 he merely detached the third corps under Lieutenant- 
 fieldmarshal Ramberg toward Buda. The vanguard 
 of this corps, consisting of Imperial Uhlans under Ma- 
 jor Wussin, occupied the ancient metropolis on the 11th 
 without drawing the sword ; Bamberg himself entered 
 the city on the 12th. The Austrian generalissimo was 
 able to communicate to his lord and master the wel- 
 come intelligence that Austrian, not Russian troops, 
 were the first that approached the ruins of Buda, for 
 he still felt strong enough to hold Gorgey fast in his 
 self-woven net. 
 
 Gorgey exhibited on the 10th, as before on the 2d, 
 
216 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 the masterly skill of a great general and the self-devo- 
 tion of a brave soldier at the head of his troops. In 
 the wood at Acs the Honveds fought in close masses, 
 and saturated the ground with their blood. The im- 
 perial generals themselves were struck with admiration 
 at the national infantry, so much decried, who pressed 
 forward with lowered bayonets, their muskets still 
 loaded. They fought with all the ardour of young 
 soldiers, and the cool self-possession of grayheaded 
 heroes ; but they found an iron foe in the Bianchi, 
 Sartori, Reischach brigades, and the Ludwig Cavalry 
 brigade. The loss was great on both sides, and night 
 saw each army in its former position. 
 
 The Hungarians had not better success on the other 
 points of attack. The hussars were repulsed before 
 Mocsa by the Bechtold division of cavalry. At Puszta- 
 Herkaly, indeed, Gorgey for a long time had the ad- 
 vantage ; the enemy's columns were overthrown ; the 
 Austrian infantry began to stagger and fall back in 
 confusion ; the fortune of the day was on the point of 
 being decided, and the valour of a Benedek and Her- 
 zinger (these two generals had both their horses killed 
 under them) would hardly have been able to save the 
 battle to the imperialists, when once more Paniutin, 
 Gorgey's evil spirit, appeared, with his living walls of 
 troops and his powerful park of artillery. At five 
 o'clock the battle was terminated on all points. The 
 huzzars rode downcast into their quarters ; but Gorgey 
 exhibited a cheerful face ; he trusted in his brave 
 troops and his own genius to find another outlet. 
 
 Gorgey's object now was to break through the 
 Russian army on the east, having failed in this at- 
 tempt upon the Austrians in the south. He ordered 
 Klapka, with all the forces which were destined under 
 
BATTLE OF WAITZEN. 217 
 
 his command to form the garrison of Komorn, to make 
 a general attack upon the Austrian main army. 
 Klapka executed his commission with that bravery and 
 circumspection which have distinguished this general 
 from first to last. Sparing of human life, but the 
 more lavish of powder and shot, he conducted his 
 attack so skilfully, employed his comparatively weak 
 force with such prudence and management, he divided 
 his artillery and the few squadrons of cavalry that 
 remained to him in so masterly a manner, that the 
 head-quarters at Dotis were seriously threatened, and 
 the Austrian generals led to believe that they were 
 opposed by Gorgey's entire army, who intended to 
 venture a decisive battle for a third time. 
 
 Gorgey meanwhile, unperceived, marched along the 
 left bank of the Danube on the road to Waitzen, to 
 meet the Russians. He encountered their first out- 
 posts at Parkany ; they retreated hastily to Waitzen, 
 which was occupied by a Mussulman regiment under 
 Prince Bebutow. The latter begged and received 
 immediate succour from General Sass, at Hort and 
 Hatvan, and on the 15th commenced a hot engage- 
 ment, fought principally with artillery and cavalry. 
 Nagy Sandor's corps had formed a junction with 
 Gorgey, who, after all the losses he had sustained on 
 the Waag and Danube, had still under his command 
 an army of 45,000 of the choicest troops, together with 
 a park of artillery of seventy to eighty guns. At Wait- 
 zen, Gorgey for the first time encountered unmixed Rus- 
 sian-troops, and his admirably-served artillery kept 
 possession of the field. The following day the Russians 
 renewed the battle, having received strong reinforce- 
 ments ; Ramberg had hastened to their aid from Pesth. 
 
 The heights of Waitzen now became the theatre of 
 
218 KOSSUTH AND THE. HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 a murderous conflict. The fight raged into the streets 
 of the town, and the walls of the houses were battered 
 by the grenade and cartridge-fire of the Russians ; but 
 in the midst of this iron hail the Hungarians retreated 
 slowly, as if intending to hold Waitzen to the last 
 man. Here too Gorgey commanded in his splendid 
 uniform, in the thickest fight. Was it by mere accident 
 that for some days past he had exchanged the plain 
 green hussar dress with which he at other times rode 
 out to battle for the red dolmany, or did he really 
 wish a ball of the enemy to put an end to the conflict 
 within him ? Who can say ? He was however long 
 out of reach of shot, and on his march toward Balassa- 
 Gyarmath with the greater part of his army, when the 
 din of battle still continued in and around Waitzen. 
 As Klapka at Acs, so here Nagy Sandor fought to 
 cover the tardy retreat of his general-in-chief. Every 
 drop of blood that was shed on this and the preceding 
 days was Gorgey's fault alone ; the brave hussars joy- 
 fully sacrificed themselves for him, — at their head 
 Nagy Sandor, the Murat of the army. This man was 
 a soldier from top to toe — daring, obedient, self-de- 
 voted : the best cause could not have a better cham- 
 pion. Gorgey disliked this general: he could not 
 endure his openness, his frank manners, nay, even his 
 valour ; and certain it is that he ordered him and his 
 corps to every post of the greatest peril. Nagy San- 
 dor complained to Kossuth that he was purposely ex- 
 posed to danger, the cause of which he believed to be 
 his having on one occasion openly declared in the 
 council of war, " If any one of us ever attempts to 
 play Caesar, I will be his Brutus." 
 
 Nagy Sandor with 12,000 men now made a stand 
 against an overwhelming force, as long as he deemed 
 
AFFAIRS IN TRANSYLVANIA. 219 
 
 it of any avail ; he then followed the main army, the 
 enemy not daring to pursue him. The latter did not 
 discover until afterward that they had merely been 
 engaged with the rear-guard ; and the Russian general 
 openly acknowledged this in his bulletin, thereby tes- 
 tifying to the bravery of the Hungarians as it deserved. 
 "General Perczel," said Kossuth, "was during the 
 battle of Waitzen only a few miles distant with 26,000 
 men at Nagy Kata, but Gorgey neither wrote nor 
 sent. He had merely to have said one word, and we 
 should have taken the Russians between two fires and 
 annihilated them — but he was silent." 
 
 Thus had Gorgey himself broken the first mesh of 
 the great imperial net which surrounded him ; he now 
 lost himself in his well-known mountain paths, and for 
 a long time no one knew where he was wandering. 
 We will leave him to develop at leisure his skilful 
 manoeuvres, and turn our attention to other points. 
 
 In Transylvania, all the horrors of war raged in the 
 valleys, on the mountains, in the wild ravines, at the 
 gates of the most flourishing towns. After the moun- 
 tain passes had once been opened, the united forces 
 of the enemy poured incessantly, like a flood, through 
 the broken-down sluices, threatening to overwhelm the 
 defenders of the country from all sides. Bern's battles 
 had been fought in vain, and even his conciliatory con- 
 duct, by which he hoped for a time to efface the hatred 
 and jealousy of the different races, was thrown away. 
 The presence of the imperial armies, their manifestoes 
 and promises, and on the other side the straitened 
 position of the Polish general, had the effect of arousing 
 old hostilities, old recollections, claims, and hopes 
 among the wild Waliachs, who in that country are 
 called Motzen. The hordes of these mountaineers 
 
220 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 "were stirred, and thousands crept from their hiding- 
 places like reptiles awakened to new life by the sun's 
 rays. Bern saw the numbers of his enemies increase 
 fearfully on every spot of ground he had to defend. 
 A disproportionately small army was under his com- 
 mand, and although the Szeklers were ever ready for 
 the fight, yet many of his officers longed for rest, and 
 the pay of the troops began moreover to fail, since on 
 the flight of the government fromPesth the banknote- 
 press had been stopped. 
 
 On the 15th of July, Clam-Gallas had led Puchner's 
 former corps from its quarters in Wallachia to Tran- 
 sylvania, (the Turkish government had not ventured, 
 according to international right, to disarm this corps 
 on their territory,) his main object being, in con- 
 junction with the Russians, to relieve Carlsburg, which 
 was hard pressed. But Bern still felt himself strong 
 enough to enter the field against the united imperial 
 generals. He collected his Szekler troops at Harom- 
 szek, defeated the Austrians who had ventured to ad- 
 vance so far, and threatened Cronstadt and Hermann- 
 stadt at the same time. The Russian generals, who 
 had gained lessons of experience from their first un- 
 successful campaign, remembering that they had once 
 possessed the two capitals only to lose them again, 
 would not sacrifice their honour and that of the Rus- 
 sian arms a second time ; they prudently withdrew 
 before Bern's army, carrying away their military chest 
 and stores in the utmost haste from Cronstadt, after 
 being compelled by two successive defeats to retreat to 
 Illyefalva and Aldoboly. Bern took advantage of this 
 weakness of the enemy to advance into Moldavia by 
 the Ojtos Pass, (23d.) He hoped by his presence to 
 put in motion all the revolutionary elements which had 
 
bem's operations. 221 
 
 accumulated for years past in the principalities ; and 
 as Transylvania was half lost, he sought to gain in 
 Moldavia a field for new battles. In this he deceived 
 himself. His rapid advance to Roman failed, equally 
 with his proclamations, to raise the people of Molda- 
 via, and he consequently had no alternative but to re- 
 treat hastily into Transylvania. Here, as early as the 
 26th, General Hasford, after taking the chief town in 
 the Saxon-land, had driven back the Szeklers to Reis- 
 mark. Bistriz had also again fallen, the Szeklers 
 having fled like cowards before Grotjenhelm. 
 
 Liiders had advanced to Schassburg, and Bern, who 
 appeared before this town on the 31st, could hold it 
 no longer. He quickly marched to Mediasch, with a 
 view to unite with Kemeny Farkas, who brought him 
 four thousand men and twelve cannon from Klausen- 
 burg : strengthened by this reinforcement, he was 
 anxious to make a bold coup-de-mam upon Hermann- 
 stadt, in order if possible to drive Hasford back into 
 Wallachia. His attack on Hasford's column leaves 
 no doubt as to this intention ; he repulsed him impetu- 
 ously from the Salzburg and Reismark side toward 
 Hermannstadt, which the Russians were obliged to 
 evacuate, and were pursued to Talmasch. Hasford's 
 corps would not have long been able to withstand the 
 impetuosity of the Szeklers, the Rothenthurm Pass 
 would have again seen the Russians flying from the 
 country, Bern would have occupied Hermannstadt, and 
 have had one enemy less to contend with, had not 
 Liiders, who saw through the plan of the enemy, ope- 
 rated on his flank with a view to relieve Hasford. 
 Bern, compelled to maintain a front against this second 
 enemy, attacked the latter in his excellent position on 
 the heights of Grosscheuern ; but the Russians made 
 
222 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 a stand, and their cavalry rendered it impossible for 
 Bern to outflank their left wing, while the right was 
 sufficiently protected by the hilly nature of the ground. 
 The Polish general vainly exerted all his skill in ma- 
 noeuvring ; vain was the daring valour of his cavalry, 
 who defied all obstacles of a hostile soil and the ene- 
 my's batteries ; vain was the self-devotion of isolated 
 detachments of Honveds, who, at the risk of being cut 
 off, stole forward through the thickets on the acclivi- 
 ties, to harass the Russians on all sides. Bern was 
 that night indebted to the clumsiness of his enemy 
 alone for being able to lead his troops toward the 
 Maros, which he crossed — never to return. We too 
 shall now take leave of the mountains of the south, 
 cast a rapid glance over the plains and marshes be- 
 tween the Maros and the Theiss, which at that time 
 lodged no enemy, and direct our view to the valleys 
 of the north, where we left the Russian main army. 
 
 The Russians were still encamped on the 5th of 
 July before Miskolcz ; Dembinski had withdrawn to 
 Gyongyos; the Prince of Warsaw had removed his 
 head-quarters to Abrama on the 9th, and we do not 
 find him in Aszod until twelve days later. Dembinski 
 and Paskiewitsch — the Pole and the Russian, the 
 general of the autocrat and the patriot of a world, 
 the two old foes grown gray in battle, — here. stood 
 watching one another with that circumspection which 
 testified their mutual respect. The Prince of Warsaw 
 could only advance slowly, being obliged above all 
 things to keep channels open for the supply of provi- 
 sions. Dembinski, on the other hand, must have wel- 
 comed every hour of delay, as favouring the possibility 
 of a final concentration of all the Magyar forces. He 
 remained inactive, but ready for instant battle when 
 
BATTLE OF HATVAN. 223 
 
 Gbrgey should appear from the east, to place the Rus- 
 sian main army between two fires. 
 
 Gorgey did not make his appearance ; Yisocky and 
 Dessewffy were therefore obliged to remain on the 
 Theiss, instead of reinforcing the army of the south, 
 as had been determined in the last great council of 
 war. It was to be feared that the Russian main army 
 would take the route to the south, in order to unite 
 with the ban ; Vetter would have been too weak to face 
 both enemies, the Bacska would have been lost, and 
 with it the last hope of a great concentration between 
 the Theiss and Danube. Dembinski, in consideration 
 of these circumstances, was obliged to relinquish his 
 Fabius-like system ; and being informed by spies that 
 his enemy was preparing for a great battle on the 23d, 
 he resolved at once to anticipate his movements. 
 
 The Dessewffy and Visocky brigades had two days 
 before threatened the right flank of the Russians, and 
 repulsed a division of Uhlans, intended to cover it, 
 upon the vanguard under Tolstoi ; but afterward, when 
 Tolstoi developed his superior strength, they discon- 
 tinued the fight, still retaining a position in immediate 
 connection with Dembinski, to afford a powerful sup- 
 port to all his manoeuvres. On the 23d of July, at 
 two o'clock in the morning, three hours before Paskie- 
 witsch had determined to break up his quarters at 
 Hatvan, Dembinski's centre stood before this place, 
 (Paskiewitsch, deceived by spies, believed him to be 
 retreating toward Erlau,) and took it by storm on the 
 first assault. The Russian soldiers had the previous 
 night received a great allowance of spirits, and slept 
 more soundly than usual ; their columns formed but 
 slowly, so that, according to Dembinski's report, many 
 of them ran off, or were taken prisoners in their shirts. 
 
224 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Paskiewitsch himself now brought up the reserves 
 from Aszod, but was driven back at the point of the 
 bayonet by the Hunyady regiment ; and before he 
 could attempt a second attack, the appearance of 
 Colonel Bottner from Pata obliged him to retreat. 
 The centre and left wing of the Russians were thus 
 pressed together, and the right wing was also forced 
 to abandon its position at Jasz Bereny, and retire to 
 Sorokcar. The Russian general now united all his 
 disposable forces, and drew them out of their confined 
 position. At nine o'clock in the morning, the battle 
 was at its height, at ten it was decided ; the Hungarian 
 cavalry and the Polish lancers turned the scale. The 
 Russians lost all their baggage, twelve cannon, and 
 eight hundred prisoners. Under different circum- 
 stances, this victory would have been important ; but 
 Hungary could now only be saved by a war of anni- 
 hilation ; there was no longer any question of winning 
 or losing positions, but of the existence or non-existence 
 of armies. The possibility of success was, at all events, 
 opened to the Hungarians ; but Gorgey had only one 
 object in view, that of overthrowing Kossuth ; and to 
 effect this, he sought to lower him in power, step by 
 step, in order that, at the decisive moment, when Kos- 
 suth should confess his weakness, he might place him- 
 self at the head of affairs, as the only man capable of 
 holding the helm. 
 
 We meet him again after the battle of Waitzen, on 
 his route northward. At Retsag, on the small lake 
 formerly known by the name of " Ocellum Maris," an 
 insignificant Russian corps made a stand against him ; 
 he was content to avoid it. At Vadkert he again fell 
 in with the Russian troops, but here also, like a lion, 
 he despised inferior prey, continued his march toward 
 
GORGEY PURSUED BY THE RUSSIANS. 225 
 
 Balassa-Gyarmath, and took up his head-quarters, on 
 the 19th, in Ludany. He now stood, on the river 
 Ipoly, which, rising a few miles to the north in the 
 Oztrosky Mountains, rushes with impetuous force 
 through the valley ; here, on the Raros Pass, extend- 
 ing between the river and the wooded mountains, he 
 had thought to gain a firm footing, but it was too late. 
 Grabbe, who had preceded, drove him still further 
 northward to Losoncz. Sass followed in his footsteps, 
 and came up with his rearguard at Losoncz, after the 
 main corps had already marched out on the road to 
 Gyongybs. Nagy Sandor, who commanded the rear- 
 guard since the battle of Waitzen, withstood the shock 
 bravely, and after a hot engagement, which spread 
 into the streets of the town, was able to follow the 
 main corps, united with which, he, on the 25th, 
 occupied the strong positions before Gomor. 
 
 But the further Gorgey proceeded eastward and 
 nearer to the Theiss, the more narrowed became the 
 circle of the Russians, who were pursuing and awaiting 
 him. Sass, who hung upon his heels, daily concentrat- 
 ing the scattered columns, was now in direct commu- 
 nication with Grabbe, and the two generals combined 
 their manoeuvres for a great chase in the mountains, 
 while Tscheodajeff in Miskolcz was waiting like a 
 sportsman at his post, until the noble prey was driven 
 within shot. 
 
 That Gorgey on his way to Gomor did not once 
 attempt to annihilate the inferior forces of Sass, and 
 relieve himself of this disagreeable escort, is one of 
 the most enigmatical points in his tactics. It is said 
 that he kept up negotiations during the march with 
 Dembinski. On arriving at Gomor he was too weak to 
 fight, and thenceforth nothing remained but to avoid a 
 
 15 
 
226 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 defeat. For this purpose he ordered Nagy Sandor to 
 hold the positions before Gomor as long as possible, 
 and then to turn aside toward Rosenau, draw the 
 enemy after him, and keep the road to Putnok open 
 to the main corps. Nagy Sandor obeyed these orders, 
 fought with his Honveds before Gomor, engaged before 
 Rosenau an enemy three times his superior in num- 
 ber, who continually imagined that Gorgey was before 
 them, and at length with his battalions hunted to 
 death, starving and decimated, reached the main army 
 at Miskolcz. 
 
 If what this brave general declared to Kossuth is 
 true, that here as everywhere Gorgey, out of mere 
 hatred, purposely exposed him to danger, he had an 
 opportunity at Miskolcz of taking a noble revenge. 
 On his arrival before this town he found Gorgey en- 
 gaged with Tscheodajeff. Already from afar the thun- 
 der of the heavy artillery fell on his ear, and with 
 a last effort of his exhausted troops he pressed forward 
 to the field of battle. Miskolcz was speedily evacu 
 ated by the Russians ; Gorgey was enabled to take uj 
 the noblest positions from Onod to Zsolcza, to destroy 
 the Sajo bridge, and protected by the stream, wood, 
 and marsh, to undertake the defence of this line. 
 Nagy Sandor and Poltenberg performed here prodigies 
 of valour on the 25th, at the head of their Honveds ; 
 while Gorgey conducted the engagement with the 
 whole power of his genius. The battle lasted from 
 morning till late at night ; Gorgey's superior tactics, 
 and his keen perception in taking advantage of the 
 natural features of the ground, saved him and his army 
 from utter annihilation ; and neither his officers nor 
 the Russian generals that evening doubted, that he 
 would at once force the passage of the Theiss at Tisza- 
 
gorgey's erratic conduct. 227 
 
 fiired. Tscheoclajeff immediately made preparations 
 to follow him ; Grabbe had already marched from 
 Losoncz, (which he had plundered and burnt down to 
 revenge the murder of several Russian officers,) by the 
 shortest route toward Tokay ; but Gorgey, contrary 
 to all the expectations both of friend and foe, crossed 
 the Sajo and the Hernad, and gave his troops a day's 
 rest at Gesztely. In this position Grabbe attacked 
 him, and was driven back to Onod, (28th.) Another 
 Russian column, ordered at the same time to advance 
 toward Tokay, was likewise arrested in its march at 
 the Hernad. The head-quarters of the Russians were 
 removed to Tiszafured, and Gorgey at length crossed 
 the Theiss. 
 
 In following these movements, as here described, 
 we cannot but admire the genius of the man who 
 planned and executed them. His marches and coun- 
 ter-marches, north, south, and east, winding his way 
 through by-roads in the mountains — his power of 
 seizing at once upon favourable points, and the skill 
 with which he took advantage of the mountain-streams, 
 will immortalize Gorgey's retreat as one of the most 
 masterly in the whole annals of warfare. 
 
 When he remained at Komorn, forgetful of his 
 duty, when he exposed himself at Waitzen to the fire 
 of the enemy, when he wasted his genius on the Eipel, 
 the Sajo, and the Hernad, — then he was a traitor to 
 his country, while he himself perhaps merely intended 
 to undermine the position of Kossuth. On reaching the 
 Berettyo, it must have become clear to him as the sun 
 at noonday, that he had not alone aimed a blow at the 
 top branch, but had struck the axe at the root of his 
 nation's independence. Throughout his whole march 
 he had disregarded the positions of the other gene- 
 
228 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 rals, never informing them of his movements, and 
 seeking to fight out his enterprise single-handed, that 
 he might be the sole liberator of his country in the 
 moment of her utmost need, and set aside Kossuth as 
 an impotent prattler. 
 
 Gorgey came too late ; he was deceived in his cal- 
 culation ; he had split up his strength, and nothing 
 remained to him save his measureless vanity. Hun- 
 gary was lost through his fault, and he would fain 
 construct her coffin with his own hands. From that 
 time he entered into actual negotiations with the Rus- 
 sians, which he had previously opened perhaps only 
 in appearance, as Wallenstein did with the Swedes. 
 What was Hungary in future to him, if compelled to 
 join the other stronger corps with an enfeebled army ? 
 He loved in Hungary only the battle-fields on which 
 he had won his victories. Ambition had always in his 
 mind taken the place of patriotism. It was still in his 
 power to retire from the scene an unconquered gene- 
 ral : he did so, at a price which no man had ever be- 
 fore paid — the sacrifice of his honour, his country, 
 his friends, and the freedom of Europe. 
 
 Dembinski and Meszaros, after having in vain waited 
 for a junction with the army of the Danube, accord- 
 ing to the general plan of operations, had retired 
 slowly to Szegedin, and the corps of Visocky and 
 Perczel alone remained at Czegled. Perczel still ex- 
 pected Gbrgey's arrival, and this hope made him stay 
 till the last moment. We have throughout observed 
 in this general the genuine stamp of the Magyar cha- 
 racter, — proud, wild, imperious, but brave, patriotic, 
 and true as steel. All injuries, real or imaginary, 
 which he had experienced from the government and 
 the other commanders, were at once forgotten, when 
 
PERCZEL RETREATS. 229 
 
 Kossuth reminded him that his country could not spare 
 his services. He entertained an unshaken belief in 
 the right and invincible power of the Hungarian 
 nation, and in the self-devotion of every individual 
 Magyar. 
 
 But Perczel was at length obliged to give up ex- 
 pecting Gorgey, when convinced that the latter avoided 
 every opportunity of junction with the other corps. 
 He had led southward his troops by way of Hat van, 
 fallen in with the Russians at Tura and Zsambok, and 
 endeavoured to maintain his position at Nagy Kata 
 on the line of the Zagyva. Standing upon the ground 
 where his friends had four months before fought a 
 series of the most glorious battles, he was naturally 
 reluctant to leave it without a victory ; but there was 
 no time to lose. Haynau had directed his march to 
 Pesth, which he again left on finding that Gorgey 
 had escaped him, and went in pursuit of his enemy 
 into the heart of the country. Perczel and Visocky 
 therefore retired without delay by Kecskemet to 
 Szegedin. 
 
230 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Kossuth's enemies — his summons to a general crusade — the 
 diet at szegedin — paloczy — gorgey appointed commander- 
 in-chief— the finance minister and the banknote-press 
 austrian troops on the march sortie from komorn. 
 
 Kossuth arrived at Szegedin on the 12th of July, 
 1849, the other members of the government either 
 accompanying or following him. We have lost sight 
 of Kossuth in the preceding narrative of the most im- 
 portant events of the war. While the generals were 
 the foremost actors on the scene, the power which 
 created and organized the whole movement necessarily 
 remained veiled in the background. History seeks to 
 lift this veil, and after wandering over the different 
 fields of battle, we now revert briefly to the man who 
 directed the whole plan of operations. 
 
 Kossuth, at once the great political mover, enthu- 
 siast and philosopher, sought to agitate Hungary, in 
 order that every corrupt element in the state might 
 sink to the bottom ; and he believed that this separa- 
 tion of good and evil would be effected in as simple a 
 manner as in the material processes of the natural 
 world. After his first attempt to transform the coun- 
 try by a moral revolution into a new state adapted to 
 the times had been frustrated by the machinations of 
 Austria, and physical power had been summoned to 
 the field of battle, he still continued to employ the 
 weapons of legal resistance, in the hope of sparing his 
 nation the alarming word "revolution." Thus it was 
 
KOSSUTH AT SZEGEDIN. 231 
 
 that in his parliamentary speeches, in conferences with 
 friends and statesmen, no word was so constantly on 
 his lips as "torvenyesen" that is, legal. His belief in 
 the possibility of effecting a revolution on the ground 
 of legality, and his confidence in the power of his na- 
 tion of fighting out this battle, never forsook him, even 
 when the Russians invaded the country. "I con- 
 sidered," he wrote to Teleki, " Hungary to be strong 
 enough even then to fight the battle with both empe- 
 rors ;" and he drew up the plan of a crusade for the 
 whole country, calling the nation to arms in a procla- 
 mation which, for power of style and passionate enthu- 
 siasm, will remain a model of revolutionary eloquence 
 to future ages. 
 
 Flying from the metropolis, cut off from Debreczin 
 by the vicinity of the Russians, Kossuth and the 
 government met again at Szegedin. Troubled by 
 Gbrgey's fatal disobedience, yet not dispirited, he had 
 done all in his power, " in accordance with his views," 
 for the salvation of his country. " Within the space 
 of eight days," he writes, "we raised, equipped, and 
 armed a corps of fourteen thousand men under Gene- 
 ral Perczel, at Czegled and Kecskemet, which, united 
 with Yisocky, stopped the advance of the Russians ; 
 in Szegedin we again raised in one week a corps of 
 seven thousand men, and provisioned Arad." At the 
 same time he held large public meetings, and preached 
 the crusade. Thirty thousand men rose at his call, to 
 be led by him against the enemy : his voice was as 
 ever powerful and inspiring, and his people the most 
 devoted listeners. There was indeed at Szegedin a 
 party in Gorgey's interest, for his victories had excited 
 a general spirit of enthusiasm ; but the masses of the 
 people lay chained at the feet of Kossuth, whenever 
 
232 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 he addressed them. He had the power of directing 
 them as he willed, but he restricted his efforts to the 
 dictates of his conviction. He wanted the resolution 
 openly to accuse Gorgey at the time when this step 
 might still have availed, and even now he only alluded 
 equivocally to men who were no longer equivocal 
 rivals. 
 
 Meanwhile the diet was opened at Szegedin, (July 
 21st.) In the president's chair sat Paloczy, an old 
 man with all the enthusiasm of youth, and a matured 
 understanding, easily carried away himself, and trans- 
 porting his auditors by his ebullitions of spirit. Of 
 quick intelligence, ready wit and eloquence, learned in 
 the history of his country, a master in citing points of 
 old law and musty formularies of jurisprudence, a liv- 
 ing dictionary of the glory and heroic deeds of past 
 times, this man had from the commencement of the 
 great movement gradually adopted its principles ; he 
 remained faithful to these in the time of his country's 
 reverses. 
 
 At this sitting of the diet, Szemere described the 
 position of affairs, and the line of policy which the 
 government had resolved to follow. His speech was 
 the masterpiece of a minister who was expected to 
 render explanations, but who neither could nor dared 
 to do so. He spoke of schemes of pacification with the 
 hostile races, of past sufferings, of sacrifices still to be 
 made, of peace and war, of the tyranny of the crowned 
 heads, and of national liberty. He spoke on this, as 
 on all occasions, with learning and deliberate fore- 
 thought ; but he skilfully avoided unveiling, explaining, 
 and representing in its true light the open breach of 
 the government with their first general ; yet this was 
 precisely what the parliament had just reason to ex- 
 
GORGEY COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 233 
 
 pect. Hunfalvi interrogated the ministers on the po- 
 sition of Hungary with regard to foreign powers, 
 demanding information respecting the position of the 
 army of the Danube; but they answered evasively; 
 their silence was construed into envy of Gorgey's 
 merits, and the press from that day resolutely de- 
 manded that Gorgey should be intrusted with the 
 command-in-chief of all the armies. 
 
 The parliament held secret conferences, to discuss 
 the great question how the hostile Sclavish and Wal- 
 lachian races might be won over to the Magyar cause. 
 The result was the transference of the command-in- 
 chief to Gorgey, (with the proviso that he should render 
 at a future time an account of his conduct,) a declara- 
 tion of the equal rights of all nationalities, and an 
 amnesty to all who had borne arms against Hungary. 
 (Sitting of the 28th.) 
 
 The appointment of Gorgey to the command-in- 
 chief of all the armies was hailed with exultation by the 
 people, who had the greatest confidence in his genius, 
 and regarded him as invincible. Perczel alone openly 
 opposed his nomination, and claimed for himself the 
 post which was proposed for Gorgey. His violent 
 temper carried him away, and betrayed him into the 
 most intemperate threats and unjustifiable expressions ; 
 but in the end he yielded to the order of the minister 
 of war, who even took from him the command of his 
 corps, which he had in part himself raised, and trans- 
 ferred it to Visocky. 
 
 Kossuth was at one time in Szegedin, at another 
 with Dembinski and Visocky, — now in Arad conferring 
 with Bern, and again in the council of the ministry ; 
 he appeared to have the gift of ubiquity, and at the 
 same time redoubled his activity. Working incessantly 
 
234 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 to bring into efficiency the machinery of resistance, 
 he yet forgot that the two chief springs of action had 
 refused him service — the army of the Danube under 
 Gorgey, and the banknote-press under the finance 
 minister Duschek. 
 
 Duschek had formerly filled the post of imperial 
 counsellor in one of the offices of the Vienna ministry. 
 Ever a decided imperialist, his joining Kossuth, and 
 his position in the revolutionary government, created a 
 greater sensation in the circles of the Viennese aristocra- 
 cy than the defection of many persons of higher station. 
 He remained at Kossuth's side until the end of the 
 ■war, slowly but surely counterworking all his measures, 
 like his evil spirit, and offering every impediment to 
 his operations silently but perseveringly. Inventive 
 in raising obstacles to the erection of the banknote- 
 press, he skilfully contrived to impede its operation 
 when at work. He could never be prevailed upon to 
 issue gold and silver coinage from the treasury — this 
 he was reserving for Austria — and had ordered the 
 small kreuzer-notes, with which the army was paid, 
 to be printed in two colours, thus retarding their 
 issue. The consequence was, that want of money 
 gradually spread discontent among the troops ; Kos- 
 suth was besieged by all the generals for arrears of 
 pay, and was unable to meet the demand. 
 
 While in this manner the difficulties and confusion 
 daily increased in the Magyar camp, the Austrian 
 generals pursued their plan of operations with irresisti- 
 ble rapidity. Nugent had hastened to the aid of the 
 ban, in order to set his movements free ; after the 
 retreat of Dembinski and Visocky, Colonel Korponai 
 with the landsturm, could not possibly longer prevent 
 the passage of the Theiss. Paskiewitsch, after the 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE AUSTRIANS. 235 
 
 unsuccessful attack of his generals Grabbe and Sacken 
 on the remains of Gorgey's army, had started with the 
 second and third corps from Csege for Debreczin ; 
 while the fourth secured the communication by Tokay 
 and the tranquillity of the mining districts. Haynau 
 marched towards Szegedin, leaving before Komorn a 
 small investing corps under Csorich. 
 
 The heat in August was oppressive ; in the plains 
 between the Theiss and Danube, through which the 
 Austrian army had to march, all the wells were dried 
 up. The pools of water which remained here and 
 there poisoned the air, from the dead and putrid bodies 
 thrown into them ; while dust, sand, and the sun's 
 heat combined to make the want of drinkable water 
 intolerable ; the melon, which grows luxuriantly in that 
 country, was strictly prohibited on account of its pro- 
 ducing fever, and the water mixed with vinegar, which 
 Haynau brought with his army in hundreds of peasants' 
 wagons, was insufficient for the want of the troops. 
 Nevertheless the Austrian army bore the toil and 
 privations of the march with admirable courage, and 
 strict discipline was maintained. The forces advanced 
 southward in three separate columns, which were to 
 reunite before Szegedin. 
 
 Haynau had not yet arrived there, when from the 
 west he received the news of an event, which spread 
 excitement and apprehension throughout the whole 
 monarchy. Komorn had once more set in motion her 
 formidable arms ; Klapka had on the 3d of August 
 made a grand sortie, which threw into the hands of 
 the garrison the Schiitt Island and the shore of the 
 Danube as far as Hochstrass and Wieselburg. With 
 twenty-four fieldpieces, 8000 infantry, and four divi- 
 sions of hussars, he outflanked Barko's position, 
 
236 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 attacked the widely-extended investing troops at 
 Mocsa, Puszta Herkaly, and Puszta Chem, and drove 
 them with immense loss through Puszta Lovad in the 
 direction of Raab. At the same time he ordered an 
 attack to be made on the Austrians on the Schutt 
 Island, in which they lost the whole of their baggage 
 and all their guns, repulsed the enemy on the left 
 bank to Szered, and on the 4th occupied Raab, and 
 threatened Wieselburg, Pressburg, and the frontier. 
 
 Besides the enemy's loss of a great number of men, 
 with their whole park of artillery, the garrison cap- 
 tured at Acs 2760 head of oxen, five boats laden with 
 corn and powder, 500,000 cwt. of flour, and forty 
 thousand uniforms. 
 
 The terror of this expedition, which was more than 
 a mere sortie, spread to Vienna with the rapidity of 
 lightning. Austrian and Russian fugitives (many only 
 in their night-dress) had fled to Pressburg, carrying 
 the news of the general's carelessness in face of a 
 fortress so manned and provided as Komorn. The 
 Vienna fauxbourgs, the birthplace and cradle of 
 Austrian democracy, were already making secret pre- 
 parations for the reception of the Hungarians, by 
 whom they hoped to be freed from the state of siege 
 and courts-martial. In many houses of the nobility, 
 all was in readiness for flight ; Haynau himself was 
 alarmed, and ordered a strong column of his army 
 back to Pesth. 
 
 But Klapka had set a limit to his enterprise, which, 
 as a general under command, and responsible for the 
 safety of Komorn, he considered himself not justified 
 in exceeding. Among his officers, indeed, there were 
 not a few who longed boldly to march upon Vienna — 
 a step which, from the position of the Austrians at 
 
klapka's sortie. 237 
 
 that time, would have been attended with no great 
 risk ; but Klapka set his face against any such pro- 
 posal. " It was neither his wish, nor within the scope 
 of his orders, to undertake romantic campaigns." 
 
 Komorn received its newly-gained booty, and 
 wrapped itself once more in the grandeur of silence. 
 Klapka's expedition was the last bright ray of fortune 
 for Hungary, — the last flicker of heroic resistance 
 before its entire extinction. 
 
238 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 KOSSUTH AND DEMBINSKI THE SZEGEDIN NATIONAL GUARDS 
 
 PASKIEWITSCH MAIZE PLANTATIONS GREAT YICTORY OF THE 
 
 RUSSIANS GORGET PRINCE LICHTENSTEIN KOSSUTH'S FINAL 
 
 PLAN DEMBINSKl's DEFEAT AT SZOREGH GORGEY ARRIYES 
 
 BEFORE ARAD BUKOWINA BATTLE OF TEMESYAR ABDICATION 
 
 OF KOSSUTH YILAGOS THE NEW DICTATOR FOLDVARY POL- 
 
 TENBERG NAGY SANDOR LEININGEN— SURRENDER OF ARMS — 
 
 CONCLUSION OF THE WAR AUSTRIAN CRUELTIES. 
 
 Kossuth was resolved to hold possession of Sze- 
 gedin. On the evening of his arrival, thousands had 
 assembled in the great square under his balcony by 
 torchlight and moonlight, and there sworn to fight to 
 the last. The Theiss in the west, and the troops of 
 Dembinski, Visocky, Vetter, and Guyon, together 
 with the enthusiastic population of Szegedin, appeared 
 to him strong enough to defend the intrenchments, 
 which surround the city in a semicircle on the east. 
 He communicated his views to Dembinski, but this 
 general, who had long seen the impossibility of hold- 
 ing the Theiss at any point after the Russians had 
 crossed en masse to the further shore, urged their 
 taking the Maros as the line of defence. In his opinion, 
 Szegedin should only be held until he had made his 
 dispositions on the further bank of the Theiss ; perhaps 
 a single day's delay might bring Gorgey, who was 
 known to be in the neighbourhood of Debreczin. 
 
 On the 29th of July, Guyon, according to the orders 
 he had received, arrived at Szegedin with his victorious 
 
THE AUSTRIANS ENTER SZEGEDIN. 239 
 
 corps from the south. Ten battalions, consisting of 
 eight thousand men, all good and tried soldiers, denied 
 before Kossuth in the market-place, — the same troops 
 who had defeated the ban at Hegyes and driven him 
 back to Titel. The eighth battalion, which had dis- 
 tinguished itself pre-eminently on that occasion, was 
 addressed by Kossuth, and its standard decorated with 
 the order of merit of the third class : these troops, 
 reinforced by five thousand newly- organized levies, 
 took up their position in the intrenchments. With 
 this force, the whole army amounted to thirty- 
 four thousand men ; the national guards had been 
 obliged to deliver up their arms, and were on this 
 account imbittered against the government ; having 
 in their first engagements with the Serbs shown that 
 they could make a good use of them. But, since it 
 had been resolved to abandon the city after a short 
 resistance, it was necessary to save the arms of the 
 citizens from the enemy's hands, and store them in 
 safety for future struggles. 
 
 On the 1st of August the members of the diet 
 quitted the town, from whose towers the Austrian out- 
 posts were distinctly visible. The banknote-press had 
 been previously transported to Arad. On the same 
 day the entire Hungarian army crossed the Theiss on 
 four pontoon-bridges, and occupied New Szegedin on 
 the further shore, to oppose the passage of the river 
 by the Austrians. Haynau, who had already removed 
 his head-quarters beyond Felegyhaza, and burnt down 
 Gsongrad, whose inhabitants had taken up arms, found 
 to his no small astonishment the intrenchments de- 
 serted. Szegedin, which to all appearance should 
 have proved a second Saragossa, was occupied by the 
 Austrians without a blow. 
 
240 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Gorgey had divided his army at Nyiregvhaza 
 Nagy Sandor was ordered to advance to Debreczin by 
 forced marches, with a view to reach that town before 
 the Russians, and keep them occupied as long as pos- 
 sible : the other troops were despatched to Nagy Kalto, 
 Vamos Pirts, and Kis Maria, with orders to advance 
 from these positions southward. Gorgey knew that 
 the Russian main army had crossed the Theiss with- 
 out opposition, and was obliged to keep to the left, in 
 order to avoid a dangerous encounter. A remarkable 
 circumstance likewise, which must not be forgotten, 
 was, that during the whole of his memorable retreat 
 Gorgey continued to receive accurate information of 
 the enemy's positions ; while the Russians, by the ad- 
 mission of their commander-in-chief in the genuine 
 Magyar counties on the Theiss, were unable to obtain 
 a single trustworthy spy. 
 
 Dembinski had advanced with his whole forces to 
 Tiszafiired and Csege, but delayed from motives of 
 prudence to penetrate farther into the great Hungarian 
 plain. The left flank of his army was covered by the 
 extensive marshes of Margita, bordered by tobacco- 
 plantations, which, alternating with thickets of gigan- 
 tic reeds, form the principal vegetation of this part 
 of the country ; on his right lay the outskirts of the 
 immense Hortobagy morass, behind him the Theiss, 
 before him the wide plain, the district of the Magyar 
 Haiduck-towns and the Debreczin heath. He sent 
 troops to reconnoitre the country for miles around, 
 and gain authentic information of the enemy's posi- 
 tion ; but the Hungarians were nowhere to be seen, 
 and the head-quarters were therefore advanced to Uj- 
 Varos, (1st of August.) The Russian main army still 
 numbered sixty thousand men, notwithstanding that 
 
MAIZE PLANTATIONS. 241 
 
 Grabbe stayed behind to watch the mining districts, 
 and a second column remained at Szolnok under 
 Colonel Chrulew to facilitate General Benedek ? s pas- 
 sage of the Theiss. This powerful army was set in 
 motion on the 2d of August from Uj-Varos to Debrec- 
 zin. The maize has at this season of the year attained 
 its full growth ; while on the lower part of the stem 
 the female flower-bud is already metamorphosed into 
 the fruit-bud, the light yellow male blossoms still 
 crown the plant with their full tufts, giving to the 
 country around the monotonous, tawny aspect of a 
 desert. In a gentle breeze the plain has all the ap- 
 pearance of a yellow sea, while the thick plantations 
 shut out any distant view. A body of troops wishing 
 to turn out of the beaten path, to the right or left, 
 would be obliged to cut their way through the maize 
 fields, as through the tangled and luxuriant vegeta- 
 tion in tropical forests. These plantations, although 
 consisting of such fragile single plants, can thus be 
 used as places of concealment and for other strategi- 
 cal purposes, where extending over a large tract of 
 country. On one occasion, the Serbs in the Bacska 
 took advantage of them in war with as much skill and 
 dexterity as the Indians exhibit when fighting in the 
 primeval forests of the New World. The Hungarian 
 generals had taken a lesson from the Serbs ; and Nagy 
 Sandor, on whom the forlorn task had devolved of 
 holding an open town with eight thousand men against 
 an army of eighty thousand, turned the maize plan- 
 tations to the greatest advantage. His outposts were 
 stationed immediately in front of the town, behind 
 garden-hedges, ditches, and barricades of trees, in such 
 a manner that four squadrons and two cannon only 
 were visible. The Russian cavalry were prevented by 
 
 16 
 
242 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 the maize-fields from operating en masse, and their 
 attempt to outflank the advanced posts of Nagy San- 
 dor was repulsed by the masked Honved artillery. 
 The prince himself in his bulletin mentions in terms 
 of praise the masterly serving of the enemy's batte- 
 ries, which could not be forced from their positions 
 without considerable loss. For this purpose he ordered 
 four batteries under General Gillenschmitt to advance 
 against the enemy's left wing ; and as soon as the 
 heavy artillery of the Hungarians began to open its 
 fire on this side, four Russian brigades in full battle 
 array, and covered by Cossacks and Mussulmen, 
 marched upon the town for a general attack. Nagy 
 Sandor was to be seen wherever the danger was great- 
 est ; he repeatedly sent couriers to Gbrgey, who was 
 with his army only thirteen miles from the field of 
 battle, imploring him to advance as rapidly as possi- 
 ble. The Russian columns were so much divided, that 
 Gorgey's timely arrival might still have rendered the 
 victory doubtful. But to all appearance, on the left 
 bank of the Theiss, the negotiations between Gorgey 
 and Paskiewitsch had already assumed a decisive cha- 
 racter ; Gorgey did not stir, but with laconic brevity 
 and coldness merely reminded the brave Nagy Sandor 
 of the orders he had received to evacuate Debreczin 
 after an attempt at resistance. 
 
 In consequence of this conduct, no alternative re- 
 mained to Nagy Sandor. The hussars, attacked in 
 front and flank, galloped back into the streets of the 
 town in disorderly flight, followed by the Honveds in 
 the utmost confusion. Nagy Sandor succeeded in 
 arresting their flight, and led his battalions in good 
 order out of the town ; they were considerably thin- 
 ned, and on their retreat suffered still further loss, 
 
HUNGARIANS RETREAT. 243 
 
 while four pieces of heavy artillery, with a large store 
 of ammunition and baggage were left behind. The 
 prince entered Debreczin on the evening of the same 
 day, accompanied by the Grand-duke Constantine, 
 who had shared in the engagement. On the approach 
 of night the Cossacks relinquished the pursuit of the 
 Hungarians, and encamped before the town, which 
 had witnessed the most decided victory the Russians 
 had obtained over the Magyars (a disproportionately 
 small force indeed) during the whole campaign. 
 
 If — as is not improbable — Gorgey, even after the 
 battle on the Hernad, had still clung to the idea of 
 effecting a junction with the other corps at the deci- 
 sive moment, to prove the superiority of his talents 
 and the importance of his service at such a crisis, to 
 save Hungary by a great battle, and at the same time 
 to annihilate Kossuth and his party, — if it is true, that 
 before the passage of the Theiss he had still indulged 
 in such illusions, these must surely have vanished, 
 when he sent Nagy Sandor from Nyiregy-Haza to 
 Debreczin, when he remained inactive after the former 
 had entreated his aid, and when at last for want of 
 succour the corps of this brave general fled weakened 
 and dispirited to Grosswardein. Gorgey himself passed 
 Debreczin by a circuitous route east of the town ; 
 the only road open to him was that to the south, for 
 Grotjenhelm and Liiders had already made their ap- 
 pearance on the western outlets of Transylvania. 
 Necessity compelled him to draw near to the other 
 Magyar generals ; the enemy showed to him the road, 
 which duty had from the first vainly pointed out to 
 him, and thus he united before Grosswardein with the 
 unfortunate remains of Nagy Sandor's corps, to take 
 the road to Arad. On the Tth Rudiger occupied 
 
244 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Grosswardein, the gigantic storehouse of the Hunga- 
 rians, and followed in Gorgey's footsteps, evidently 
 less with the object of annihilating than observing 
 him, and of being in readiness for battle as soon as 
 the expected moment of inevitable surrender arrived. 
 In and around Szegedin, in face of the ancient 
 town on the left shore of the Theiss, where a year 
 before the Serbs suffered a sanguinary repulse from 
 the national guards, stood the Hungarian forces, 
 which after the dispersion of the Danube army had 
 the honour of being named the main army, under 
 Dembinski, Meszaros, Guyon, Visocky, Dessewffy, and 
 Kmetty. One division only remained behind to op- 
 pose the passage of the Austrians ; the rest encamped 
 on the Maros between St. Ivany and Szoregh. The 
 commander-in-chief of the Austrian army allowed his 
 troops but a short rest, and then ordered General 
 Prince Lichstenstein to attack New Szegedin. Two 
 bridges were thrown across the river in the face of 
 the enemy's batteries, but these were destroyed, with 
 all the brave men who had ventured upon them to 
 gain the opposite shore. The yellow, muddy water of 
 the Theiss, scarcely ever fit for drink, Was dyed red 
 with the blood of the killed, and for a great distance, 
 even beyond Szenta, no dog would quench his thirst 
 in those waters. The Ramberg corps at Kanisza, who 
 saw with horror the dead bodies of their brethren 
 floating slowly down the stream, crossed the river 
 after a slight skirmish ; the Austrian main army took 
 possession of New Szegedin, which was evacuated by 
 Dembinski's rearguard ; the ban was pressing forward 
 from the south, joined by Nugent, while the Russian 
 army was advancing from the north. The battle at 
 Szoregh (5th of August) was obstinately and despe- 
 
BATTLE OF SZOREGH. 24 
 
 rately fought, but lost by the Hungarians. Dembin- 
 ski commanded the right wing, Gaal and Kmetty the 
 left, Guyon the centre. Couriers were incessantly 
 flying to and fro between Arad, whither Kossuth had 
 withdrawn with a part of the House of Representatives, 
 and Szoregh, the head-quarters of Dembinski. Ere long, 
 on the same road, the Hungarian army was seen flying 
 in the utmost confusion, routed, dispirited, scattered 
 in all directions, no longer subject to any command. 
 
 The reverses of the Hungarians in this great war 
 were rapid and fearful. Unfortunately, Dembinski 
 was wounded in the shoulder by a shot ; he fell from 
 his horse, and was carried into a peasant's cottage ; 
 for twenty-four hours the Hungarian army was with- 
 out a commander. On the 6th of August, Mako was 
 in the power of the imperialists, and thus the line of 
 the Maros was forced. A retreat was inevitable, and 
 Dembinski took the direction of Temesvar, which place 
 was still besieged by Vecksey. Kossuth reproaches 
 the Polish general severely for having marched to 
 Temesvar instead of Arad, and expresses himself as 
 follows in the letter we have before cited on the posi- 
 tion of affairs at this crisis : — 
 
 M The gain of a general battle might have compen- 
 sated the army for all its reverses, and consoled the 
 nation under its sufferings. I had therefore formed 
 the plan, that, should Dembinski have been compelled 
 to evacuate his position at Szoregh, — nay, even with- 
 out this necessity, if the day of Gorgey's arrival before 
 Arad were known, — Dembinski should have likewise 
 retreated under the walls of this fortress. Here the 
 two armies were to have united, and, regardless of the 
 advance of the Russian main army, which was pursu- 
 ing Gorgey within two days' march, to have attacked 
 
246 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 with their combined forces the Austrian main army 
 in the Banat, whose defeat would have been inevitable. 
 While the fortress of Arad would have hindered the 
 passage of the Russians across the Maros, and com- 
 pelled them to take a circuitous route, our united army 
 would have driven the Austrians into this furthest 
 corner of the country, pressing them incessantly south- 
 ward, and leaving them no other means of escape than 
 to seek refuge in Wallachia. Thus we should have 
 driven them out of the country in a single encounter, 
 as Bern did Puchner. Our army then, allowing the 
 Russians to continue their march unimpeded, were to 
 have crossed the Theiss into the Bacska, and passed 
 the Danube at Neusatz. Thence it should have di- 
 rected its march to Komorn, where Klapka had just 
 gained brilliant advantages over the Austrians, have 
 been reinforced by at least half the garrison of twenty- 
 two thousand men in that fortress, and pursued the 
 struggle with renewed power. I had made all neces- 
 sary preparations to second this object, and to call 
 into action on the other side of the Danube the im- 
 mense strength of a people who have shown themselves 
 ready for every effort and sacrifice. Supposing, how- 
 ever, that the most important feature of my plan — 
 namely, the expulsion of the Austrians — had failed, 
 then fifty thousand of our troops should have marched 
 into Transylvania, defended the passes in the most 
 energetic manner, and annihilating the enemy there 
 with an overwhelming force, have attacked the Rus- 
 sian army in Moldavia and Wallachia. A successful 
 result to this campaign would at once have induced 
 the Porte to adopt a decided line of policy. Not 
 being myself a general, I could only draw out the plan 
 of operations, — their execution rested with others. 
 
KOSSUTH'S PLAN OF OPERATIONS. 247 
 
 Dembinski, defeated at Szoregh, was on the 4th of 
 August compelled to retreat ; but, instead of directing 
 his march toward Arad, a fortress in our possession, 
 he went to Temesvar, which was occupied by the 
 enemy, alleging as a reason his desire of relieving our 
 besieging corps. This was a great error; after his 
 defeat he was driven under the guns of Temesvar, and 
 cut off from all communication with Gorgey. His army, 
 which altogether amounted to forty thousand men, 
 suffered from the fatigue and privations of an inces- 
 sant retreat losses quite as severe as those of Gorgey 
 under similar circumstances." 
 
 It is of the highest interest to hear Kossuth's opinion 
 on the causes of his own and Hungary's fall, and to 
 see how his extraordinary mind retained up to the very 
 last its hope, its confidence, its activity. But this very 
 confidence was the great error in his calculation ; he 
 trusted to combined operations with Gorgey, who was 
 all the while meditating a general surrender ; he speaks 
 of annihilating the Austrians by the concentrated Ma- 
 gyar army, forgetting that the latter, from the heavy 
 losses it had sustained on all sides, was, even after the 
 junction of all its forces, still inferior in number to 
 Haynau's main army alone. According to his plan, 
 the Russians were to advance unresisted, — taking for 
 granted that their march would be in a straight line ; 
 he speaks of driving the Austrians into Wallachia, as 
 if the Porte had not shown clearly enough, that her 
 territory was rather a rendezvous for the imperial 
 troops than a field for their destruction ; lastly, in his 
 calculation he leads the victorious Hungarian army 
 across the Theiss and Danube back to the western 
 frontier of Austria, forgetting that Debreczin, Gross- 
 wardein, Szegedin, the mining districts, and Transyl 
 
248 EOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 vania were in the hands of the enemy, and consequently 
 that those invaluable sources of resistance were lost, 
 which had given life and motion to the grand machi- 
 nery of the national struggle. 
 
 Whether Kossuth's reproach to Dembinski for his 
 retreat to Temesvar (in which others have joined) is 
 well-founded or not, it must be recollected that the 
 Polish general in his operations could in no degree 
 calculate on any junction with Gorgey, who, to judge 
 from every circumstance and appearance, took all 
 means of avoiding one. That Dembinski has been a 
 great general, is a fact admitted by his most inveterate 
 enemies. 
 
 The news of Dembinski's defeat at Szoregh reached 
 Kossuth at Arad. He was sitting, lost in meditation, 
 on a wooden bench in a miserable apartment of the 
 fortress, which everywhere bore traces of the recent 
 bombardment, when a courier brought him the intelli- 
 gence. Fugitives had already spread the news through 
 the town, and in the streets, where thousands of 
 wagons stood drawn up. The most fearful confusion 
 now arose : civil officers, private families, soldiers, 
 women, children, camp-purveyors, were all rushing 
 helter-skelter, endeavouring to escape from the threat- 
 ened town. The banknote-press was removed to Lu- 
 gos, the only place, in Kossuth's opinion, where it 
 could be protected in the rear by Bern, and in front 
 by Yecsey, who was besieging Temesvar. At length, 
 on the 8th of August, the long-expected first columns 
 of Gorgey 's army arrived before Arad. Nagy San dor, 
 who commanded them, received from Kossuth the 
 order to march on the 9th at daybreak, to take Yinga 
 and secure the communication with Temesvar ; but the 
 troops were worn out by long marches, and dispirited 
 
FORTRESS OF TEMESVAR. 249 
 
 by their heavy losses ; they suffered a discomfiture at 
 Dreispitz and retreated to Arad, before which fortress 
 Gorgey had arrived the same day with the remains 
 of his once splendid army. He yielded an apparent 
 assent to Kossuth's plans, and made all necessary 
 arrangements on the 11th of August with his whole 
 forces to free the road to Temesvar. But the same 
 night arrived the disastrous news of the loss of the 
 battle at Temesvar, in which Bern held a joint com- 
 mand, after having quitted Transylvania on the sum- 
 mons from Kossuth to take the command-in-chief of 
 all the troops. 
 
 Temesvar is a strong fortress, and contained within 
 its walls an heroic garrison. Lieutenant-fieldmarshal 
 Rukowina, who held the command, defended every 
 point of the town, resolutely refusing all summons to 
 surrender, until the roofs were fired over his soldiers' 
 heads and the walls fell in ruins. When the Eabrik- 
 faubourg was actually stormed and carried by the 
 Honveds, he withdrew like a hunted badger into his 
 furthest retreat, the proper fortress. Typhus and in- 
 termittent fever, cholera and want, shook the courage 
 of the old warrior as little as the red-hot balls of Vec- 
 sey, who conducted the siege of the fortress. He 
 remarked that the time for surrender would not arrive 
 until his soldiers had gnawed the last skeleton of their 
 horses, or " when the handkerchief in his coat-pocket 
 should be set on fire." The brave old warrior did not 
 hold out in vain : the garrison of Temesvar had the 
 happiness of opening her gates to their brethren-in- 
 arms. In face of the fortress, at Kis-Becskerek, the 
 last decisive battle was fought ; for a long time the 
 fortune of the day remained undecided, — at last it 
 turned in favour of the Austrians. 
 
250 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 Haynau's right wing was already repulsed, after the 
 reserve-artillery and the Paniutin division had in vain 
 been brought on the scene of action, and the left wing 
 was in danger of being outflanked by strong detach- 
 ments of hussars, concealed in the thickets and woods. 
 Bern, who had committed the command of his Tran- 
 S}' r lvanian troops to another general, and hastened via 
 Lugos to Temesvar, to assume the command-in-chief, 
 considered his enemy as already firmly in his power, 
 and hoped to crush him at once, while the Austrian 
 central columns vainly sacrificed their lives before the 
 batteries wliich Bern, taking skilful advantage of the 
 ground, had opposed to their progress. But at the 
 critical moment in the battle, Prince Lichtenstein 
 appeared with his corps from Hodos, whence he had 
 pursued the fugitive Honveds ; while Schlik, advanc- 
 ing from Mezohegyes, was seen advancing at Vinga. 
 The fate of the battle was now decided ; Lichtenstein 
 brought a strong reinforcement to the repulsed wing 
 of the Austrians, caused them to rally, and after a 
 short pause led them on to the attack. 
 
 The hussars were thrown into confusion by the 
 shock, and Bern broke a collar-bone by a fall from his 
 horse, over which he had for some time lost sufficient 
 control, covered as he was with wounds. The con- 
 fusion into which the Hungarians were thrown led to 
 their dispersion and flight, such as Hungary had never 
 before witnessed. Lichtenstein's timely appearance 
 on the field of battle and Gorgey's non-appearance 
 were the causes that lost to Bern a victory he had so 
 nearly gained. 
 
 The immediate result of the loss of this battle was 
 the relief of Temesvar. Haynau had the satisfaction 
 of being the first who, in the evening of that same 
 
KOSSUTH AND GORGEY. 251 
 
 day, (August 10th,) entered the gates of the fortress 
 at the head of some squadrons. The place was 
 crowded with sick and wounded ; its outward appear- 
 ance, and that of its defenders, showed that both had 
 reached the extreme point, when defence was no longer 
 possible. 
 
 The morning sun of the 11th of August gilded the 
 towers of two fortresses, distant only a few miles ; it 
 shone upon two scenes which wore a remarkable con- 
 trast. In Temesvar, the poor, half-starved Austrians 
 crowded joyfully around their brethren and guests, — • 
 in Arad, the Hungarians stood gathered in mournful 
 groups, their hearts heavy with despair and melancholy 
 forebodings. On the one side, columns of troops, their 
 friends and allies, entered the relieved fortress, amid 
 joyous songs and warlike music ; on the other, all who 
 were able fled out of the gloomy gates. In Temesvar, 
 the Austrian generals, elated with victory, embraced 
 one another ; in Arad, Kossuth and Gorgey stood at 
 a bow-window in a small chamber of the fortress — met 
 once more after so long a separation — to part for ever. 
 
 What passed in those hours between them — their 
 mutual reproaches and explanations — we know not ; 
 whether Gorgey's guilty conscience cowered before 
 the glance of the governor, we can only conjecture ; 
 this alone we know, that Gorgey crossed the threshold 
 of that apartment first into the open air, as dictator — 
 Kossuth following him, a hopeless exile. 
 
 Kossuth had all along governed in unison with the 
 majority of the National Assembly ; he resigned his 
 power when they believed Gorgey to be the only man 
 capable of saving the country. Kossuth turned his 
 steps southward, Gorgey to the north. This was not 
 the first time that the paths of these men led in oppo- 
 
252 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 site directions. The new dictator, on the evening of 
 the 11th of August, after being defeated by the weaker 
 corps of Schlik at New Arad, had marched his troops 
 across the Maros back to Old Arad. From this place 
 he announced to the Russian general his determination 
 to surrender, together with the miserable conditions 
 he demanded, and the place where he proposed to 
 carry the act into execution. On the 12th, he marched 
 toward Szollos, where Rudiger arrived on the 13th, 
 according to appointment. The act of laying down 
 their arms by the Hungarians took place on the fields 
 between Kiss-Jenb" and Szollos, and this act will be 
 designated in history as the surrender of Vilagos. 
 
 On the 13th of August, the sun shone bright and 
 hot ; Gorgey's army stood in regimental array, twenty- 
 four thousand men strong, with one hundred and forty- 
 four cannon. In the foremost ranks the infantry, in 
 the rear the artillery, on either side the regiments 
 of cavalry. A deathlike stillness pervaded the army 
 — their looks were bent upon the ground. The soil 
 was sacred — it was the grave of their honour. 
 
 From time to time the report of a shot broke the 
 stillness of the scene. Some hussar had fired the 
 last charge of his carbine into the head of his faith- 
 ful horse, determined that the brave animal at least 
 should not survive the disgrace of its master and the 
 fall of Hungary. Other of his comrades had unstrap- 
 ped their saddles in the forest, and lain them aside 
 with csako and dolmany, as things which they could 
 no longer call their own ; they had then dashed off on 
 their wild steeds over the plains, to resume their 
 former course of life — the wild, free Csikos of the 
 heath. The hussars too, in rank and file, took the 
 saddles from their horses in silence, piled them in 
 
SURRENDER OF GORGEY. 253 
 
 large heaps, together with their arms and standards, 
 and stepped back to their horses. Here stood the 
 Ferdinand regiment, with its brave colonel at its head, 
 a picture of grief and despair : his sword was gone, — 
 he had flung it with a curse at Gorgey's feet, when 
 the latter succeeded in carrying his proposals of sur- 
 render in the last council of war. Beside them stood 
 the Hanover hussars — Count Batthyanyi, their com- 
 manding officer, at their head, on foot : with his own 
 hand he had killed his charger, the finest in the whole 
 army, that it might never bear a Cossack on its back. 
 Further on, the Nicolaus and Alexander regiments, 
 Gorgey's guardian-angels in the Carpathians, Hun- 
 gary's avenging-angels in the victories of April, — 
 shadows of former greatness, remains of the old regi- 
 ments, in which but a few still survived to serve as 
 the framework of newly-organized battalions. Close 
 at hand stood the Coburg and Wiirtemberg imperial 
 hussars. The younger regiments of cavalry were dis- 
 tributed on the flanks ; Lehel hussars, which had not 
 yet had an opportunity of emulating the older regi- 
 ments — the Hunyady corps, which had already won 
 the respect of the veteran troops. 
 
 The generals stood gathered in a group, or rode 
 slowly up and down between the battalions. Foldvary 
 approached the ninth battalion with tears in his eyes ; 
 under his command, in conjunction with the third, it 
 had been the first to storm the ramparts of Buda. 
 The men loved him as a father, and had rescued him 
 from many a danger ; for Foldvary, one of the bravest 
 of the brave, was short-sighted, and frequently rode 
 into the very midst of the enemy, whence he had again 
 and again been extricated by his brave soldiers. At 
 this moment when they saw their former colonel 
 
254 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 coming up to bid them a last farewell, as if electrified 
 with one thought, they formed themselves unbidden 
 into a large square ; the standard-bearer hands the 
 flag to his neighbour, and thus it passes from one to 
 another up to the colonel. Every man kisses it: 
 then they lay it upon a pile of fagots in the midst 
 of the square, and look on in silence while the flag 
 burns to ashes. 
 
 Nagy Sandor — a Murat likewise in taste for cos- 
 tume — stands in conversation with Pdltenberg, dressed 
 in his splendid uniform. Count Leiningen, Gorgey's 
 warmest friend, was pacing up and down near them ; 
 he was idolized by his comrades, but never made any 
 pretensions to merit, content to assist in adding one 
 stone to the temple of his friend's fame. Generals 
 Lahner, Knezich, Kiss, Colonel Gorgey, and others, 
 were on horseback, conversing on indifferent subjects. 
 Damianich, the colossus in stature and courage, had 
 remained as commander in Arad. 
 
 The new dictator appeared in the simple dress which 
 he was accustomed to wear when on march. He en- 
 deavoured to put on a cheerful face ; but his features 
 were more solemn, dark, and iron-bound than usual. 
 He rode up and down before the hussars, murmuring 
 here and there a word of encouragement, and slowly 
 inspected the Honved battalions, the scarred warriors 
 of the former regiments of Schwarzenberg, Franz Karl, 
 Prinz von Preussen, Don Miguel Alexander, and Wasa. 
 He then rode in front of the ranks, and declared him- 
 self ready to transfer the command to any one who 
 believed himself capable of saving the army : this he 
 was no longer able to do. A greyheaded hussar offi- 
 cer rode out of the ranks up to the staff, and declared 
 that it was his and his comrades' determination to cut 
 
EVENTS AFTER THE SURRENDER. 255 
 
 their way through the enemy. But Gorgey warned 
 him dryly against any "insubordination, which must 
 he put down by musket-balls ;" and so saying he turned 
 his back carelessly upon the officer. 
 
 From four o'clock in the afternoon until late that 
 evening continued the surrender of arms, the division- 
 ing of the escorts, and departure of the troops. They 
 were conducted to Sarkad, and from thence to Gyula, 
 where they were transferred to the power of Austria. 
 At ten o'clock the fields before Vilagos were deserted. 
 
 The events which took place in Hungary after the 
 catastrophe of Vilagos formed the last convulsive 
 struggle, that desperate strain of every nerve, which 
 immediately preceded the fall of this heroic nation. 
 
 The remains of the army of the Theiss separated at 
 Lugos, where the semi-Wallachian population had 
 buried in the earth their stores of corn, to withhold 
 them from the starving fugitives. Bern, now com- 
 mander-in-chief, could only prevail on a portion of 
 his army to continue the war ; the greater number 
 of troops followed Gorgey 's call to the north, whither 
 he summoned them "to unite with the Russians." 
 
 At Facset the army separated. Yecsey's corps, 
 which was still a fine body of troops, and in the greatest 
 strength, as it had taken no part in the battle of 
 Temesvar, marched along the Maros to meet its fate, 
 accompanied by the remains of other divisions. At 
 Soborsin his whole train of artille" was captured; 
 and on the 19th of August he surren $ ed to the Rus- 
 sians. Bern and Guyon directed the w march toward 
 Transylvania; but the Austrian main army pressed 
 them on all sides, and old Dembinski declared to his 
 countryman Bern, that under these circumstances he 
 was no longer able to continue the struggle. Kmetty 
 
256 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 alone, with about four thousand men, encountered the 
 tenfold superior forces of the Austrians, in and before 
 Lugos, to cover the road to the south ; with his brave 
 troops he arrested the enemy's march for more than 
 half a day, and then sought refuge in Turkey by way 
 of Mehadia. Bern and Guyon advanced as far as 
 Dobra with their corps, which then dispersed in all 
 directions into the mountains. The generals remained 
 alone, and there bade farewell to a country endeared 
 to them by so many recollections. (17th of August.) 
 
 In Transylvania the Szeklers continued to fight with 
 desperation, defeated the Austrian General Urban at 
 Banffy-Hunyad, and ultimately surrendered to the 
 Russians at Sibo. Lazar, who remained at Deva with 
 his troops, laid down his arms to General Simbschen. 
 
 Damianich, in compliance with Gorgey's direction, 
 surrendered Arad unconditionally to General Rudiger ; 
 entertaining the firm belief, that now, for the first time, 
 and in alliance with Russia, the real war was to com- 
 mence. Munkacs capitulated to the Russians on the 
 26th of August. Peterwardein opened her gates to 
 the Austrians on the 7th of September. 
 
 Komorn alone proudly and resolutely rejected every 
 summons for unconditional surrender. Klapka's mes- 
 sengers traversed the country, with a view to obtain 
 correct information on the state of affairs. Fugitive 
 Honveds, single horsemen who had escaped from the 
 enemy, wan /en haggard soldiers, brought the news 
 of what had f r0 place. The black-yellow flags wav- 
 ing upon the . ns Qparts of all the other fortresses, the 
 pale look of despair in every Magyar's face, confirmed 
 the truth of these accounts. Komorn capitulated, 
 under favourable conditions, on the 27th of September. 
 
 In Hungary, Klapka has been reproached by many 
 
FLIGHT OF THE LEADERS. 257 
 
 for not including, in the terms of surrender, articles 
 which might have secured the political existence of 
 the country ; but this reproach vanishes, when we 
 learn the mean, haggling conduct of the Austrian ge- 
 nerals, from whom Klapka had to fight inch by inch 
 for every point he obtained. 
 
 Kossuth, Dembinski, Bern, Perczel, Casimir Bat- 
 thyanyi, Szemere, Kmetty, Gruyon, Visocki, Vetter, 
 and Meszaros fled to Turkey, where their residence or 
 extradition was made a question of political debate by 
 the European powers. The finance minister, Dus- 
 chek, resides undisturbed in Austria, having success- 
 fully laboured in her interest. Casimir Batthyanyi, 
 who only a few days before the final catastrophe 
 had advanced to Duschek out of his own pocket the 
 sum of ten thousand florins in Austrian banknotes, 
 vainly entreated him to return to him his money : the 
 finance minister was inexorable, and delivered it over 
 to Austria, together with the other funds in his hands. 
 Horvath and Vukovich fortunately escaped to Paris. 
 
 In Bern there was no wavering or hesitation : his in- 
 flexible mind was a stranger to all by-paths, on which 
 men of a less firm character often stand, irresolute and 
 doubtful what course to pursue. Bern's guide through 
 life was hatred of Russia, — this w T as his pillar of cloud 
 by day and his pillar of fire by night. To this hatred, 
 rooted in his very soul, he has a thou ^nd times offered 
 to sacrifice his life, and at last h ristian belief. 
 
 Dembinski, who on his departure L "• v . aris declared, 
 that his object in going to Hungary was to win by the 
 sword a point of union between his own country and 
 the South-Sclaves, has always remained a Pole, and 
 fought on the Theiss for his brethren on the Vistula. 
 
 On the 6th of October, thirteen generals and staff- 
 
 17 
 
258 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 officers were executed. Four of these heroic men 
 met their end at daybreak, the commutation of their 
 sentence to "powder and lead" exempting them from 
 the anguish of witnessing the death of their compa- 
 nions in arms. Among the rest was Ernest Kiss.. 
 His friends at Vienna had interceded to save his life, 
 but in vain. He died a painful death : the Austrian 
 soldiers who were ordered to carry the sentence into 
 effect, and who for a whole year had faced the fire of 
 the Hungarian artillery, trembled before their defence- 
 less victim : three separate volleys were fired before 
 Kiss fell — his death-struggles lasted full ten minutes. 
 
 The report of the firing was heard in the castle, 
 where those officers sentenced to be hanged were pre- 
 paring for death. Poltenberg had been in a profound 
 sleep, and startled, as he told the Austrian officer, by 
 the first volley, he had jumped out of bed. The un- 
 happy, man had been dreaming that he was in face of 
 the enemy, and heard the firing of alarm signals at 
 his outposts : — it was the summons from the grave. 
 
 At six o'clock in the morning the condemned officers 
 were led to the place of execution. Old Aulich died 
 first: he was the most advanced in years, and the 
 court-martial seemed thus to respect the natural privi- 
 lege of age. Distinguished by his zeal and efforts in 
 the cause of his country more than by the success 
 which attended them, Aulich was inferior to many of 
 his comrades in ! point of talent ; but in uprightness 
 and strength of character none surpassed him. 
 
 Count Leiningen was the third in succession, and 
 the youngest. An opportunity had been offered him 
 late on the preceding evening of escaping by flight ; 
 but he would not separate his fate from that of his 
 brother-in-law, who was a prisoner in the fortress. 
 
EXECUTION OF OFFICERS. 259 
 
 His youth, perhaps, inspired him with a desire of giv- 
 ing to his elder companions in sorrow around him an 
 example of heroic stoicism in death ; and, on reaching 
 the place of execution, he exclaimed, with melancholy 
 humour, " They ought at least to have treated us to a 
 breakfast !" One of the guard of soldiers compassion- 
 ately handed him his wine-flask. " Thank you, my 
 friend," said the young general, "I want no wine to 
 give me courage, — bring me a glass of water." He then 
 wrote on his knee with a pencil the following farewell 
 words to his brother-in-law : " The shots which this 
 morning laid my poor comrades low still resound in 
 my ears, and before me hangs the body of Aulich on 
 the gallows. In this solemn moment, when I must 
 prepare to appear before my Creator, I once more 
 protest against the charges of cruelty at the taking of 
 Buda which an infamous slanderer has raised against 
 me. On the contrary, I have on all occasions pro- 
 tected the Austrian prisoners. I commend to you my 
 poor Liska and my two children. I die for a cause 
 which always appeared to me just and holy. If in 
 happier days my friends ever desire to avenge my 
 death, let them reflect, that humanity is the best 
 political wisdom. As for" .... here the hangman 
 interrupted him : it was time to die. 
 
 Torok, Lahner, Poltenberg, Nagy Sandor, Knezich, 
 died one after the other. Vecsey was the last ; per- 
 haps they wished, by this ninefold aggravation of his 
 torment, to make him suffer for the destruction caused 
 by his cannon at Temesvar. Damianich preceded him. 
 The usual dark colour of his large features was height- 
 ened by rage and impatience. s His view had never 
 extended further than the glittering point of his heavy 
 sabre ; this was the star which he had followed through- 
 
260 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 out life ; but now he saw whither it had conducted 
 him, and impatiently he exclaimed, when limping up 
 to the gallows, « Why is it that I, who have always 
 been foremost to face the enemy's fire, must here be 
 the last ?" The deliberate slowness of the work of 
 butchery seemed to disconcert him more than the 
 approach of death, which he had defied in a hundred 
 battles. 
 
 This terrible scene lasted from six until nine o'clock. 
 Nine gibbets stood in a line ; for all, there were only 
 one hangman and two assistants. All the victims 
 died with the calmness and composure worthy of brave 
 but conquered soldiers, without a trace of cowardice, 
 without a sign of that enthusiasm which they had suf- 
 ficiently manifested in life ; they could well afford to 
 disdain any outward expression of it in the face of 
 death. But in Aulich's eyes shone forth the spirit of 
 the martyr for freedom : Damianich's features wore 
 an expression of rage ; in Leiningen's eyes glistened 
 a tear, at parting with life so young and prematurely. 
 
 No day of battle in the annals of warfare ever wit- 
 nessed the sacrifice of so many distinguished generals 
 as the morning of the 6th of October, and rarely have 
 so many celebrated heads of a nation been struck off 
 at one blow, as here before Xrad, by the hand of the 
 executioner. 
 
 Many miles distant from Arad, on the morning of 
 this day — one rendered for ever memorable for infamy 
 in the annals of Austria — the sun dawned upon a silent 
 circle of spectators who had been disappointed of an 
 exhibition. Count Louis Batthyanyi, the former pre- 
 sident of the Hungarian ministry, had been sentenced 
 to terminate his career on the gallows, and in the very 
 centre of the metropolis that had idolized him. The 
 
Count Louis Battliyanyi. 
 
COUNT LOUIS BATTHYANYI. 263 
 
 count had wounded himself slightly with a small poig- 
 nard, and "from considerations of humanity," he was 
 shot at sunset, on the spot where, according to the 
 express orders of Haynau, he was to have suffered the 
 most ignominious of all deaths. His execution had 
 been determined on for five weeks ; but there was a 
 dread at Vienna of the desperate feeling which such 
 horrifying intelligence might strike into the garrison 
 of Komorn. This fortress had capitulated on the 27th 
 of September; on the 3d of October the Austrians 
 took possession of it with the usual formalities ; that 
 very same day Haynau hurried to Pesth, signed the 
 death-warrant of Count Batthyanyi, and returned the 
 next morning : his task was accomplished — within the 
 same hour the sentence of death was announced to the 
 unhappy nobleman. 
 
 " To be hung ! — was this their mercy in mitigating 
 my imprisonment ? — to be hung ! — Oh, base and das- 
 tardly revenge ! — yes, the person who has sworn to 
 my death — my death — " These were the words Bat- 
 thyanyi spoke, at short pauses, when he heard his 
 sentence. At the last word he broke off abruptly, 
 bearing with him to the grave a secret which had long 
 found its interpretation in the aristocratic circles of 
 Vienna. 
 
 Batthyanyi wrote a letter to his wife, communicat- 
 ing to her his fate, and endeavouring to console her 
 under this blow. Soon afterward the countess was 
 seen hurrying through the streets of Pesth towards 
 the Neugebaude, on foot and in the rain ; but Haynau 
 had forbidden a last meeting between husband and 
 wife ; and his deputy, Lieutenant-fieldmarshal von 
 Kempen, dared not disobey his orders : he refused the 
 Countess Batthyanyi an interview, and it was solely 
 
264 KOSSUTH AND THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 
 
 to the humanity of Prince Lichtenstein that she owed 
 the permission to see her husband. It is said that the 
 count received from her the dagger with which he 
 wounded himself ; but recent authentic accounts state 
 that he had it hidden for some time under his pillow. 
 
 The more important persons who were executed, 
 besides those mentioned above, were : Prince Woro- 
 nieczky, Peter Giron, Charles Abancourt, Baron Pe- 
 renyi, Emerich Szacsvay, Csernyus, Louis Csanyi, 
 Baron Jessenak, Louis Kazinczy. 
 
 These executions the politician designates as un- 
 called for, and unwise ; the lawyer terms them unjust ; 
 the patriot, deeds at which to weep ; and the people 
 exclaim that they demand revenge. Gorgey has the 
 merit of restoring peace to his country, but it was the 
 peace of the tomb. From the graves of departed friends 
 arose love, piety, devotion, and reconciliation. In the 
 present tranquil state of Hungary there is the fixed 
 and resolute look of a country burning for revenge 
 for slaughtered heroes and violated rights. Such a 
 people cannot long remain in chains. It is too de- 
 voted, intelligent, and patriotic. Every circumstance 
 assures us that if the clarion voice of Louis Kossuth 
 should again be heard in Hungary, armies will spring 
 to light, filled with a holy love of liberty and justice ; 
 and that the people, learning from the past, will nip 
 treachery in the bud, and prove the men they trust 
 with high command. May they win their noble ob 
 ject ! 
 
LOUIS KOSSUTH. 
 
 Louis Kossuth was born at Monok, in Zemphin, one of the 
 northern counties of Hungary, on the 27th of April, 1806. His 
 family was ancient and honourable, but impoverished. His 
 father served in the Austrian army during the wars against Na- 
 poleon. His mother, who still survives to exult in the glory of 
 her son, is represented to be a woman of extraordinary force of 
 mind. As a boy he was remarkable for the winning gentleness 
 of his disposition, and for an earnest enthusiasm, which gave 
 promise of future eminence, could he but break the bonds of 
 low birth and iron fortune. A young clergyman was attracted 
 by the character of the boy, and voluntarily undertook the task 
 of expanding and storing his mind. But this good fortune 
 passed away. Louis's father died ; his tutor was translated to 
 another post, and the boy seemed condemned to have his thirst 
 for knowledge rage unqueuched. Yet by the aid of some mem- 
 bers of his family, he was enabled to attend such schools as the 
 districts possessed. Little worth knowing was taught there, but 
 among that little was the Latin language, and through that 
 avenue the young dreamer was introduced into the broad do- 
 main of history. History relates nothing so spirit-stirring as 
 the struggles of some bold patriot to overthrow or resist arbitrary 
 power. Hence the young student of history is always a repub- 
 lican, but, unlike many others, Kossuth never relinquished that 
 noble faith. The history of Hungary especially engaged the 
 mind of the young student. From 1527 to 1715, seventeen of 
 the family of Kossuth had been attainted for high-treason against 
 Austria — for struggling to maintain the elective character of the 
 Hungarian monarchy. These examples were constantly before 
 the youth. 
 
 In times of peace, the law offers to an aspiring youth the 
 readiest means of ascent from a low degree to lofty stations. 
 Kossuth, therefore, when just entering upon manhood, made his 
 way to Pesth, the capital, to study the legal profession. Here 
 he entered the office of a notary, and began gradually to make 
 himself known by his liberal opinions, and the fervid eloquence 
 with which he set forth and maintained them ; and men began 
 to see in him the promise of a powerful public writer, orator, 
 and debater. 
 
 265 
 
266 LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 
 
 The man and the hour were alike preparing. In 1825, the 
 year before Kossuth arrived at Pesth, the critical state of her 
 Italian possessions compelled Austria to provide extraordinary 
 revenues. The Hungarian diet was then assembled, after an 
 interval of thirteen years. This diet at once demanded certain 
 measures of reform before they would make the desired pecu- 
 niary grants. The court was obliged to concede these demands. 
 Kossuth, having completed his legal studies, and finding no 
 favourable opening in the capital, returned in 1830 to his native 
 district, and commenced the practice of the Taw with marked 
 success. He also began to make his way toward public life by 
 his assiduous attendance and intelligent action in the local as- 
 semblies. A new diet was assembled in 1832, and he received 
 a commission as the representative, in the diet, of a magnate 
 who was absent. As proxy for an absentee, he was only 
 charged by the Hungarian constitution with a very subordinate 
 part, his functions being more those of a counsel than of a dele- 
 gate. This, however, was a post much sought for by young and 
 aspiring lawyers, as giving them an opportunity of mastering 
 legal forms, displaying their abilities, and forming advantageous 
 connections. 
 
 This diet renewed the liberal struggle with increased vigour. 
 By far the best talent of Hungary was ranged upon the liberal 
 side. Kossuth early made himself known as a debater, and 
 gradually won his way upward, and became associated with 
 the leading men of the liberal party, many of whom were 
 among the proudest and richest of the Hungarian magnates. 
 He soon undertook to publish a report of the debates and 
 proceedings of the diet. This attempt was opposed by the 
 palatine, and a law hunted up which forbade the " printing 
 and publishing" of these reports. He for a while evaded the 
 law by having his sheet lithographed. It increased in its 
 development of democratic tendencies, and in popularity, until 
 finally the lithographic press was seized by government. Kos- 
 suth, determined not to be baffled, still issued his journal, every 
 copy being written out by scribes, of whom he employed a large 
 number. To avoid seizure at the post-office, they were circu- 
 lated through the local authorities, who were almost invariably 
 on the liberal side. This was a period of intense activity on the 
 part of Kossuth. He attended the meetings of the diet, and the 
 conferences of the deputies, edited his paper, read almost all 
 new works on politics and political economy, and studied French 
 and English for the sake of reading the debates in the French 
 Chambers and the British Parliament ; allowing himself, we are 
 told, but three hours' sleep in the twenty-four. His periodical 
 penetrated into every part of the kingdom, and men saw with 
 wonder a young and almost unknown public writer boldly pit- 
 ting himself against Metternich and the whole Austrian cabi- 
 
LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 267 
 
 net. Kossuth might well at this period declare that he " felt 
 within himself something nameless." 
 
 In the succeeding diets the opposition grew still more deter- 
 mined. Kossuth, though twice admonished by government, 
 still continued his journal ; and no longer confined himself to 
 simple reports of the proceedings of the diet, but added politi- 
 cal remarks of the keenest satire and most bitter denunciation. 
 He was aware that his course was a perilous one. He was once 
 found by a friend walking in deep revery in the fortress of 
 Buda, and in reply to a question as to the subject of his medi- 
 tations, he said, " I was looking at the casemates, for I fear that 
 I shall soon be quartered there." Government finally deter- 
 mined to use arguments more cogent than discussion could fur- 
 nish. Baron Wesselenyi, the leader of the liberal party, and 
 the most prominent advocate of the removal of urbarial burdens, 
 was arrested, together with a number of his adherents. Kos- 
 suth was of course a person of too much note to be overlooked, 
 and on the 4th of May, 1837, to use the words of an Austrian 
 partisan, "it happened that as he was promenading in the vi- 
 cinity of Buda, he was seized by the myrmidons of the law, and 
 confined in the lower walls of the fortress, there to consider, in 
 darkness and »olitude, how dangerous it is to defy a powerful 
 government, and to swerve from the path of law and of pru- 
 dence." 
 
 Kossuth became at once sanctified in the popular mind as a 
 martyr. Liberal subscriptions were raised through the country, 
 for the benefit of his mother and sisters, whom he had supported 
 by his exertions, and who were now left without protection. 
 Wesselenyi became blind in prison ; Lovassi, an intimate friend 
 of Kossuth, lost his reason ; and Kossuth himself, as was certi- 
 fied by his physicians, was in imminent risk of falling a victim 
 to a serious disease. The rigour of his confinement was miti- 
 gated ; he was allowed books, newspapers, and writing ma- 
 terials, and suffered to walk daily upon the bastions of the fort- 
 ress, in charge of an officer. Among those who were inspired 
 with admiration for his political efforts, and with sympathy for 
 his fate, was Teresa Mezlenyi, the young daughter of a noble- 
 man. She sent him books, and corresponded with him during 
 his imprisonment ; and they were married in 1841, soon after 
 his liberation. 
 
 It is said that while in this prison Kossuth requested three 
 books ; the English Grammar, Walker's Pronouncing Diction- 
 ary, and Shakspeare. The request was granted, and by an at- 
 tentive study of these three volumes, he mastered the English 
 language, in the use of which he has since had occasion to dis- 
 play his power of expression. .It was in this prison that his 
 plans for securing the liberties of Hungary, and uniting the 
 several nations who inhabited it, were matured. 
 
268 LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 
 
 In 1840 a royal rescript suddenly made its appearance, grant- 
 ing the amnesty, accompanied also with conciliatory remarks, 
 and the demands of the government for men and money were 
 at once complied with. This action of government weakened 
 the ranks of its supporters among the Hungarian magnates, 
 who thus found themselves exposed to the charge of being more 
 despotic than the cabinet of Metternich itself. 
 
 Kossuth issued from prison in 1840, after an imprisonment 
 of three years, bearing in his debilitated frame, his pallid face, 
 and glassy eyes, traces of severe sufferings, both of mind and 
 body. He repaired for a time to a watering-place among the 
 mountains to recruit his shattered health. His imprisonment 
 had done more for his influence than he could have effected if 
 at liberty. The visitors at the watering-place treated with silent 
 respect the man who moved about among. them in dressing- 
 gown and slippers, and whose slow steps, and languid features 
 disfigured with yellow spots, proclaimed him an invalid. Abun- 
 dant subscriptions had been made for his benefit and that of his 
 family, and he now stood on an equality with the proudest mag- 
 nates. These had so often used the name of the " martyr of 
 the liberty of the press" in pointing their speeches, that they 
 now had no choice but to accept the popular verdict as their 
 own. 
 
 Kossuth, in the mean while, mingled little with the society at 
 the watering-place ; but preferred, as his health improved, to 
 wander among the forest-clad hills and lonely valleys, where, says 
 one who there became acquainted with him, and was his fre- 
 quent companion, " the song of birds, a group of trees, and even 
 the most insignificant phenomena of nature furnished occasions 
 for conversation." But now and then flashes would burst forth 
 which showed that he was revolving other things in his mind. 
 Sometimes a chord would be casually struck which awoke deeper 
 feelings, then his rare eloquence would burst forth with the 
 fearful earnestness of conviction, and he hurled forth sentences 
 instinct with life and passion. The wife of the lord-lieutenant, 
 the daughter of a great magnate, was attracted by his appear 
 ance, and desired this companion of Kossuth to introduce him 
 to her house. When this desire was made known to Kossuth, 
 the mysterious and nervous expression passed over his face, 
 which characterizes it when excited. " 'No," he exclaimed, " 1 
 will not go to that woman's house ; her father subscribed four- 
 pence to buy a rope to hang me with \" 
 
 Soon after his liberation, he came forward as the principal 
 editor of the "Pesth Gazette," (Pesthi Hirlap,) which a book- 
 seller, who enjoyed the protection of the government, had re- 
 ceived permission to establish. The name of the editor was now 
 sufficient to electrify the country ; and Kossuth at once stood 
 forth as the advocate of the rights of the lower and middle 
 
LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 269 
 
 classes against the inordinate privileges and immunities enjoyed 
 by the magnates. 
 
 Besides the regular supporters of the Austrian government, 
 Kossuth had to contend against the wealthy and popular 
 Szecheny, and the ultra-patricians of exclusive Magyarism. 
 Szecheny was familiar with the political learning and most 
 advanced liberalism of Western Europe, but he lacked the high 
 moral faith which gives its political element to Kossuth's charac- 
 ter; and while the latter was bent upon educating his countrymen 
 for freedom by the foundation of schools, the organization of 
 municipalities, and the concession of gradually-extending fran- 
 chises, Szecheny grudged whatever funds or activity were 
 withdrawn from the task of forwarding the material civilization 
 of the country. On the. other hand, the champions of the old 
 Maygar ascendency contested every step toward raising the 
 Croats and Sclovacks to a level with themselves. 
 
 Kossuth was not altogether without support among the higher 
 nobles. The blind old Wesselenyi traversed the country, advo- 
 cating rural freedom and the abolition of the urbarial burdens. 
 Among his supporters at this period also, was Count Louis 
 Batthyanyi, one of the most considerable of the Magyar magnates, 
 subsequently president T>f the Hungarian ministry, and the 
 most illustrious martyr of the Hungarian cause. Aided by his 
 powerful support, Kossuth was brought forward in 1847 as one 
 of the two candidates from Pesth. The government party, 
 aware that they were in a decided minority, limited their efforts 
 to an attempt to defeat the election of Kossuth. This they 
 endeavoured to effect by stratagem. The liberal party nominated 
 Szentkiraly and Kossuth. The government party also named 
 the former. The royal administrator, who presided at the 
 election, decided that Szentkiraly was chosen by acclamation : 
 but that a poll must be held for the other member. Before the 
 intention of Kossuth to present himself as a candidate was 
 known, the liberals had proposed M. Balla as second delegate. 
 He at once resigned in favour of Kossuth. The government 
 party cast their votes for him, in hopes of drawing off a portion 
 of the liberal party from the support of Kossuth. M. Balla 
 loudly but unavailingly protested against this stratagem ; and 
 when after a scrutiny of twelve hours, Kossuth was declared 
 elected, Balla was the first to applaud. That night Kossuth, 
 Balla, and Szentkiraly were serenaded by the citizens' of Pesth ; 
 they descended together to the street, and walked arm-in-arm 
 among the crowd. The royal administrator was severely repri- 
 manded for not having found means to prevent the election of 
 Kossuth. 
 
 Kossuth no sooner took his seat in the diet than the foremost 
 place was at once conceded to him. At the opening of the ses- 
 sion he moved an address to the king, concluding with the 
 
270 LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 
 
 petition that "liberal institutions, similar to those of the Hunga- 
 rian constitution, might be accorded to all the hereditary states, 
 that thus might be created a united Austrian monarchy, based 
 upon broad and constitutional principles/' During the early 
 months of the session, Kossuth showed himself a most accom- 
 plished parliamentary orator and debater; and carried on a 
 series of attacks upon the policy of the Austrian cabinet, which 
 for skill and power have few parallels in the annals of parlia- 
 mentary warfare. Those form a very inadequate conception of 
 its scope and power whose .ideas of the eloquence of Kossuth 
 are derived solely from the impassioned and exclamatory 
 harangues which he flung out during the war. These were 
 addressed to men wrought up to the utmost tension, and can be 
 judged fairly only by men in a state of high excitement. • He 
 adapted his matter and manner to the occasion and audience". 
 Some of his speeches are marked by a stringency of logic worthy 
 of Webster or Calhoun: but it was what all eloquence of a 
 high order must ever be — " Logic red-hot." 
 
 Now came the French revolution of February, 1848. The 
 news of it reached Vienna on the 1st of March, and was received 
 at Pressburg on the 2d. On the following day Kossuth deli- 
 vered his famous speech on the finances and the state of the 
 monarchy generally, concluding with a proposed " Address to 
 the Throne," urging a series of reformatory measures. Among 
 the foremost of these was the emancipation of the country from 
 feudal burdens — the proprietors of the soil to be indemnified by 
 the state ; equalizing taxation ; a faithful administration of the 
 revenue to be satisfactorily guaranteed ; the further development 
 of the representative system ; and the establishment of a govern- 
 ment representing the voice of, and responsible to the nation. 
 The speech produced an effect almost without parallel in the 
 annals of debate. Not a word was uttered in reply, and the 
 motion was unanimously carried. 
 
 By giving all the population in the village a share in the 
 nomination of " the notary," Kossuth had paved the way for a 
 general scheme of election by two degrees. Political privileges 
 were extended to all Hungary and her dependencies, without 
 distinction of race or language. The Serbs were secured in the 
 free exercise of the worship of the Greek church. But Kos- 
 suth's crowning glory and most fortunate achievement were to 
 propose, as finance minister in the first Hungarian ministry, 
 the abolition of all seignorial rights, and the payment by the 
 state of full compensation to the nobility. The probable tactics 
 of the Austrian government were thus anticipated and checked. 
 
 Of Kossuth during the Hungarian struggle, it seems some- 
 what superfluous to add to what we have already related. His 
 every act indicated the man of mighty genius and indomitable 
 energy — the patriot with scarce a selfish thought. But the fol- 
 
LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 271 
 
 lowing sketch of his life at Debreczin in the latter part of 1848, 
 when Governor of Hungary, may prove interesting and instruc- 
 ts ve. 
 
 The anteroom opened into two spacious apartments, where 
 Kossuth received the strangers, and in one of which his secre- 
 taries were at work. His dress consisted of a plain black coat, 
 of the Hungarian cut, black trousers, and black or white waist- 
 coat, with the shirt-collar turned over. When walking in the 
 streets, he wore a little Hungarian cap ; but he appeared in the 
 full"national costume only on solemn occasions. 
 
 He usually received strangers standing behind his writing- 
 table, upon which lay a brace of pistols. The attempt to assas- 
 sinate Bern at Pesth, and the remonstrances of his friends, who 
 feared a design against Kossuth's life, induced this caution ; but 
 nothing ever occurred to justify in any degree such an appre- 
 hension. 
 
 At these audiences Kossuth spoke little himself, and used to 
 say to those whom he saw for the first time, " I beg you to be 
 brief, but for that very reason to forget nothing." He listened 
 attentively, and occasionally made notes upon a sheet of paper 
 which lay before him on a table. His secretaries were con- 
 tinually coming to put some question to him, to deliver a report, 
 or with some paper to receive his signature. Before affixing 
 his name he never omitted to inspect the document, even amidst 
 the greatest pressure of business : at the same time he went on 
 listening to the speaker, who was not allowed to stop. 
 
 These hours of audience were at the same time his hours of 
 work, and it was only when he had something of great import- 
 ance to write, that he closeted himself for a short time. The 
 visits lasted till late at night, and at midnight the anteroom 
 was often as full as in the morning : it was surprising how his 
 weakly constitution could bear such mental and bodily exertion 
 without breaking down. He did not look worse at Debreczin 
 than previously, and his physician assured his friends that he 
 ailed nothing. " These great exertions," he said, " keep him 
 up : he will not feel the physical effects of all this immense 
 strain and effort until his gigantic mind shall be compelled to 
 rest. He is himself aware of this, and sometimes alludes to it." 
 But so long as there was work to do for the cause of his coun- 
 try, Kossuth was never ill. 
 
 He usually allowed himself an hour's rest from two till three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, and took a drive with his wife and 
 children to a little wood at a short distance. Here he sought 
 some retired spot, and played with his children on the grass, 
 and was happy in enjoying the fresh air of spring. At these 
 times, stretched on the grass, in the warm sun, watching the 
 young buds and vegetation, he forgot his larger family to share 
 the pleasures of his children around him. 
 
272 LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 
 
 At three o'clock lie drove back to dinner, or worked for an 
 hour when there was any urgent business. These short excur- 
 sions he usually made in the light and open carriage of a friend; 
 for although he had a carriage and pair of his own — the same 
 poor equipage he had kept at Pesth — the vehicle was so cum- 
 brous and the horses so ordinary, that they would have found it 
 a hard matter to struggle through the mud of Debreczin, and 
 might, some fine morning, very likely have left the pride of 
 Hungary sticking fast in the mud. ' • 
 
 When his simple meal was finished, Kossuth, with his secre- 
 taries, was again at his post, and the anteroom was presently 
 filled with people : this went on till late at night. Variety, 
 however, was not wanting. One while there was a conference 
 of ministers, at another a council-of-war ; now he had to invite 
 strangers or general officers to his table, and now to attend a 
 sitting of the chambers, or a review. The latter occurred almost 
 daily, for newly-raised battalions seemed to spring out of the 
 earth, and not one marched from Debreczin which Kossuth did 
 not previously reviewed and addressed. The square in front of 
 the town-hall was kept as clean as possible for this purpose, and 
 here the Honveds were drawn up in file : Kossuth saluted them, 
 and delivered a she *• address, which, as may be imagined, was 
 received with a tlr ering ( burst of eljens. The officers of the 
 battalions about to march, together with a few subalterns and 
 privates, were invited in the evening to supper at Kossuth's 
 table, where many a glass was pledged to the success of the 
 new battalion, to their country, to liberty, the army, and so 
 forth. The governor was always present at these suppers ; and 
 an elegant saloon, adjoining his apartments, was almost exclu- 
 sively devoted to such purposes. 
 
 Kossuth attended the sittings of the diet at Debreczin only 
 when he had communications of importance to make, or propo- 
 sitions which he wished personally to lay before the assembly. 
 At these times he was like a king without throne or canopy — 
 the house and the tribune, the hearts of all present, were for an 
 hour's space at his entire command ; and we may apply to him 
 the words which Lamartine used in speaking of Mirabeau : — 
 "Des son entree dans l'Assemblee Nationale, il laremplit: il 
 y est lui seul le peuple entier ; ses gestes sont des ordres, ses 
 motions sont des coups d'Etat." Kossuth always went to the 
 House of Assembly on foot, and it was touching to witness 
 the joy and reverence with which every one saluted him in the 
 streets. The women seemed bewitched by his look, and had no 
 eyes for any one else when he appeared, although he cannot be 
 called handsome in the usual sense of that term. Every one 
 stepped aside with the utmost respect, and the children stared 
 with open eyes and mouth. Every now and then a pert little 
 urchin would salute him with his "Eljen Kossuth I" or some 
 
LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 273 
 
 Did woman would mutter to herself devoutly a blessing as the 
 governor passed her. The peasant's eye sparkled with joy and 
 pride when he saw him, and standing close against the wall 
 to let him pass, he gave him his blessing — "Isten aldja!" 
 and forgot to replace the fur cap on his head, as he followed the 
 governor with eager gaze until he turned the corner. Kossuth 
 was in his eyes a model of wisdom and goodness, the imperso- 
 nation of all that was excellent upon earth, the pride of his ex- 
 istence, the hope of his children. For Kossuth every peasant 
 was ready at any moment to face death — to mount the gallows 
 or be slain upon the spot. Nor will this attachment die out 
 among the people ; it is rooted too deeply in the heart of the 
 young Magyar, who has been taught to cherish it from the cra- 
 dle up, and whose first prayer, when he awakes in the morning, 
 and when he goes to sleep at night, is for Kossuth. 
 
 " He is too good/ 7 said one peasant to another in a tavern in 
 Debreczin ; "he is too good, and would not injure any creature, 
 and this will be his death. Why does he treat the prisoners so 
 well, and prevent any harm being done them, while they would 
 exterminate us all, and destroy Hungary if they could? But 
 he cares for his enemies as if they were his own children. 
 Look ye/' he continued, pulliag an Hungarian two-florin bank- 
 note from his old pocket-book, " here he hat ,d printed, you see, 
 on this note, German, Serbian, Croatian, ai^d God knows what 
 besides, in order that not a human soul should be deceived. But 
 what are the others to us ? If I had been he, I would have 
 written on it, 'Eljen Kossuth! K6t forint!' (Long live Kos- 
 suth ! Two florins,) et punctum satis. We should all have 
 understood it, shouldn't we ? But no, he is too good. Jesus 
 Christ be with him !" 
 
 Touching naivete this in a mind of nature's own stamp ! But 
 thus it is when they come to talk of Kossuth, unbounded in 
 their confidence, when the feeling is once awakened. Were 
 Austria to-morrow to recognise the Hungarian paper-money at 
 its full nominal value, and receive it in exchange for Austrian 
 banknotes, yet thousands of the Kossuth notes would remain 
 buried in the earth ; for the peasants look upon them as of more 
 genuine value than Austrian bank-paper, because bearing Kos- 
 suth's name. Nay, even if they were for years to come unable 
 to buy a loaf of bread with their treasure, never mind — " Macht 
 Alles nix, muss wieder andersch werden" — It is all one, things 
 must change again some time or another. 
 
 The only fault which has been pointed out in the character 
 of Kossuth, and which is said to unfit him to head a great revo- 
 lution, is indecision in action. His conduct toward Gorgey is 
 quoted in support of the assertion. But this is the result of a 
 superficial survey of events and of men. That Kossuth has so 
 large and so generous a heart that he is loath to believe in the 
 
 18 
 
274 LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 
 
 treachery of one of his countrymen is a fact, and that this may 
 have led him to trust too far is probable. It is said that his 
 wife warned him that Gorgey would betray his country, and that 
 he rejected her counsel to remove him from power while it was 
 yet time. This, too, is probable. But there was no evidence 
 of Gorgey's treachery at that time. He was obstinate, and his 
 enemies asserted he was a traitor. How, upon such grounds, 
 would the governor have been justified in removing a man of 
 such splendid military talents — a man so capable of proving a 
 valuable friend and a fatal enemy — from all command ? If he 
 had done so, perhaps, Gorgey would have been considered an 
 able patriot, and Kossuth a selfish and ambitious demagogue. 
 When suspicion of treachery was justifiable, it was no longer 
 in the power of Kossuth to remove the traitor from authority. 
 He then exerted himself to win Gorgey back to his duty, by 
 gaining him the power of dictator and commander-in-chief, him- 
 self becoming an exile. There was no indecision here or else- 
 where in the career of Kossuth. In parliament, and at the 
 head of the government, he was ever bold, active, and deter- 
 mined. 
 
 AYhen all hope was lost, Kossuth, with his wife and children, 
 Dembinski, Bern, Perczel, and others, fled to Turkey. They 
 placed no faith in Austrian promises of mercy. The young 
 sultan, to his credit be it spoken, braved the arrogant demands 
 of both Austria and Russia in their protection. He refused to 
 deliver up the fugitives ; but, as a sort of compromise, agreed 
 to keep them within his own territory for a year. They lived 
 at the sultan's expense, and were treated sumptuously. On the 
 expiration of the term of their detention in Turkey, the United 
 States government tendered Kossuth and his companions a 
 national vessel to bring them to the United States. They em- 
 barked on board the steam-frigate Mississippi, in September, 
 1851. Instead of proceeding immediately to the United States, 
 Kossuth and his friends resolved to visit England first. Arriving 
 at Marseilles, they applied to the French government for permis- 
 sion to pass through France. This, the despotic executive of that 
 republican country refused, for fear of giving offence to Austria. 
 But the enthusiastic democrats of Marseilles found opportuni- 
 ties of displaying their love of the great Magyar and his cause, 
 and he issued an address to them, thanking them for their 
 sympathy, stating that he did not regard the conduct of the 
 government as the conduct of the people of France, and bidding 
 them hope for the triumph of the holy cause. At Gibraltar, 
 Kossuth and his countrymen left the Mississippi, and proceeded 
 in another vessel to England. On their arrival at Southampton, 
 they were enthusiastically received, and their progress through 
 England was one great triumph. At every important town, 
 Kossuth was compelled to make a speech to the vast crowds 
 
LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 275 
 
 which gathered to greet him. These oratorical efforts display 
 an astonishing command of a foreign language and deep poli- 
 tical knowledge. As a specimen, we may select the following 
 from a speech made at the Birmingham festival, in which his 
 opinions and hopes were expressed at length : — 
 
 " Unhappily the people as well as the government of Eng- 
 land have not been well informed about the true nature of the 
 Hungarian war — its high importance to Europe, and to that 
 orient, which in so many respects enters into the dearest inte- 
 rest of Britannia, so as to be nearly its Achilles' heel. We were 
 hermetically secluded, and chiefly so at the very time when our 
 struggles grew to European height ; so either we were not in 
 the case to afford the wonted expectations, or the effect of those 
 we could give was paralyzed by the adopted rules of diplomatic 
 formality. The people of England and public opinion here were 
 not wont to be much occupied with foreign affairs till now. There 
 might have been sufficient reasons for that. The people of Eng- 
 land have grown up from within, but it h as fully grown up already. 
 This great empire has no more to fear danger from within. 
 Your fate is not depending upon any mortal's whims. Here 
 you are the masters of your own fate. But in respect to foreign 
 relations, things are somewhat different. Every question has 
 its own conditions — every time has its wants ; and I confidently 
 affirm that there is not a single question in your internal 
 relations which outweighs in importance your external rela- 
 tions. Nay, more ; I am persuaded that all your great internal 
 questions are dependent upon your foreign office. Danger can 
 gather over England only from abroad. Do not object, gentle- 
 men, that Albion, in its insular position, and with the self-con- 
 fident knowledge of its immense power, does but laugh at the 
 ambition of all the emperors of the earth. I know that Bri- 
 tannia, with the mighty trident in her powerful hands, is enti- 
 tled, even more than of yore, to proclaim with the greatest of 
 your poets — 
 
 "This England never did, nor ever shall 
 Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror." 
 
 I know all this is very well. But give me leave to say that 
 that glorious thing which we call the greatness of Britannia is 
 not bounded within these material shores. Freedom, civiliza- 
 tion — your Parliament being representatives of whole nations 
 — the principle of free-trade — your due influence in Europe — are 
 not all these as so many arteries on which its life depends ? 
 Let but one of these arteries be cut, and Britannia will not 
 only be no more what she is, but it will powerfully react 
 even upon your internal questions. The catastrophe of freedom 
 abroad cannot fail to bring about concussions which may 
 seriously endanger your own tranquillity, your own freedom, 
 your own happiness. To break Britannia, it is not necessary 
 
276 LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 
 
 to conquer these glorious walls. The very moment that Britannia 
 should not weigh so much in the world as it now weighs, Bri- 
 tannia would be broken. This is my humble prayer — that pub- 
 lic opinion, which is now roused, not by me, but by the incident 
 of my being the opportunity for the manifestation of that prin- 
 ciple, will be expressed still more strongly. I ask the people 
 of Birmingham, who, by their political demonstration carried 
 the reform bill, and who have always supported the principles 
 of liberty, to give their support to my people. Members of 
 that great family of mankind, the tie of brotherhood is strength- 
 ened between us by common suffering. My sufferings and the 
 numberless woes of my unhappy land entitle me to entreat you 
 to pay attention to the feeble words which I address to you 
 from the bottom of my own desolation. Take them as the cry 
 of oppressed humanity, crying out to you by my stuttering 
 tongue. People of England, do not forget in thy happiness our 
 suffering — mind in thy freedom those who are oppressed — mind 
 in thy proud security, the dignity of other countries — remem- 
 ber the fickleness of human fate — remember that the wounds 
 inflicted on the nations abroad are so many wounds inflicted on 
 the principles of liberty, which are your boast, your glory, and 
 your happiness — remember that with every down-trodden na- 
 tion a rampart of thy liberty falls — remember that there is 
 a community in the destiny of humanity ; be thankful for the 
 freedom you enjoy, and lend your brethren a helping hand for 
 the future." 
 
 In a reply to some queries of the European democratic com- 
 mittee, of which the wise and eloquent Mazzini is the master 
 spirit, Kossuth states it as his opinion, that the only hope of 
 the people of Europe is in republics based on universal suf- 
 frages, and expresses his willingness to co-operate with the com- 
 mittee in the organization of the democrats. This is cheering, 
 and opens a glorious prospect. Let the friends of free institu- 
 tions unite to secure the one grand object, and determine upon 
 particular measures afterward. 
 
 In reference to the appearance of Kossuth, and the peculiar 
 characteristics of his oratory and actions, we quote from a let- 
 ter of Teresa Pulszky's : — 
 
 "You have asked me for my impressions of Kossuth, and 
 want of space now precludes my complying with your desire, 
 beyond what "the limits of a few lines will permit me to convey. 
 I derive these impressions naturally as much from what I have 
 heard and seen of his influence on others as directly on myself. 
 I believe Kossuth, then, to have as profound a knowledge of 
 human nature as his favourite writer, Shakspeare, of whose bust 
 his features, in some degree, remind you. To complete hisi 
 physical portraiture, I should, in fact, only add to this descrip- 
 tion the chin and mouth of Byron, the eye and complexion of 
 
LIFE OF KOSSUTH. 277 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, as painted by De la Roche, and beg the 
 reader to suppose the effects of a few years' imprisonment— of 
 his long parliamentary campaign— and of the period of his mi- 
 nistry and presidency. This knowledge of human nature, to- 
 gether with his power of adapting himself to the capacity of 
 those he addresses, is the source of his eloquence ; and if the 
 test of eloquence be to move and to persuade, he is assuredly 
 the most eloquent of all men living. The masses admiringly 
 term his style, in addressing them, Biblical, and perhaps do 
 not inaptly characterize it. His enemies reproach him justly 
 with being a poet,— and assuredly his writings and his speeches 
 are filled with poetry of the highest order, — but they fall into 
 the most grievous error when thereby intending to imply that 
 he is nothing but a poet. The distinctive peculiarity in which 
 he differs from all other popular leaders I can remember, who 
 have been gifted with that poetical genius which is so important 
 a constituent of eloquence, is the rare combination with this 
 talent of an equal aptitude for figures, facts, and administrative 
 detail. There are two men in him. The Kossuth eloquent with 
 tongue and pen in half the languages of Europe, who can raise 
 the whirlwind of passion in the masses, and lead the people as 
 Moses did the Israelites ; and the logically argumentative Kos- 
 suth of deliberative assemblies, the administrator and financier, 
 who writes a secretary's clear round hand, and enters willingly 
 into the most laborious detail. Add to this, the most fervent 
 patriotism, and an integrity and disinterestedness which have 
 never been assailed except by notorious hirelings of Austria, 
 or on the authority of writers whom I could show to be either 
 Austrian employes- — men owing their bread to Austrian patron- 
 age — or ignorant of every language spoken in the country they 
 pretended to describe. You will say from all this, that I who 
 repudiate so energetically the idolatry of hero-worship have 
 fallen into it. It is not so. I am perfectly awake to Kossuth's 
 faults, which are serious and many. He is too soft-hearted. 
 He could never sign a death-warrant ; he was hardly ever known 
 to punish. I believe, that if Kossuth had a servant who could 
 not clean his boots, he would never think of superseding him, 
 but clean the boots himself. On this principle he wastes his 
 time and energies in details in which he should have no con- 
 cern, and wears out, if not his untiring mind, a body which 
 would be otherwise robust." 
 
 Kossuth combines two talents, which are rarely found in one 
 and the same individual ; he knows as well when to be silent 
 as when to speak. The slight and quick motion of the corners 
 of his mouth, and the raising or depression of his eyelids, be- 
 tray the degree of interest he feels and his assent to what is 
 said ; for he has never known or practised the art of smoothing 
 his features into an impassive and impenetrable expression. 
 
ARTHUR GORGEY. 
 
 To many the character of Arthur Gorgey seems an impenetra- 
 ble mystery. Some of his comrades, who have witnessed his 
 heroic valour, will not believe in his treachery, and declare that 
 he was deceived by the Russians. Perhaps a careful review of 
 his life may be the surest door to his real nature ; and thanks 
 to his friend, Francis Pulszky, we are provided with the neces- 
 sary facts. 
 
 In the romantic valleys of the Carpathians we meet three 
 noble and leading families, who have been settled there for cen- 
 turies : the lords of Markusfalva, Berzevicze, and Gorgo. They 
 are all famed for their family pride, which ill accords with the 
 present state of their fortunes. The Gorgeys still boast of the 
 fact, that the sons of Count Elias of Gorgo saved the crown for 
 King Charles Robert, on the 15th of June, 1312, in the decisive 
 battle of Rozgony. Jordan, one of the brothers, fell, but Ste- 
 phen and Arnold decided the victory, after the banneret George 
 had been overpowered, and the king's standard taken by the 
 enemy. 
 
 But the splendour of the family of Gorgey faded ; its descend- 
 ants at the period of the Reformation embraced Protestantism, 
 and this opposed almost insurmountable difficulties to their suc- 
 cess in the service of the state under the bigoted sway of the 
 Hapsburgs. The law of primogeniture exists only exceptionally 
 in Hungary, and as the Gorgeys increased in number, the pro- 
 perty of each individual member of the family naturally dimi- 
 nished. Nevertheless every new branch was ambitious of erecting 
 a castle on their ancestral estate of Gorgo, although few had the 
 means of completing their residence in the style in which it was 
 planned, or of keeping it in a state of repair. Most of these 
 buildings are therefore dilapidated monuments of ancestral 
 pride and hereditary poverty. 
 
 Whoever is acquainted with the life and privations of these 
 small landed proprietors with illustrious names — whoever has 
 witnessed the rigid economy they practise, to save the means of 
 sending the boys to college, providing the young ladies with 
 elegant drawing-room attire for the dinners and balls of the 
 season, and enabling the lady of the house to receive with due 
 honour the guests who occasionally share their hospitality — can 
 form a notion of the feelings which were awakened in the heart 
 278 
 
LIFE OF GORGEY. 279 
 
 of young Arthur. Tales of ancestral glory, a long pedigree, and 
 the range of family portraits on the walls of his home, excited 
 the ambition of the youth. His mother, a prudent woman, and 
 a Silesian by birth, educated him sternly, not for enjoyment, 
 but for privations. He saw his relatives proudly withdraw from 
 the costly entertainments of their neighbours, who had in later 
 times enriched themselves by working the mines, — he often 
 heard the lesson inculcated, that wealth does not constitute 
 merit, and that riches frequently lie so deep in the mire that 
 men defile their hands in reaching them. Such were the remi- 
 niscences of Gorgey's youth. A Spartan education, an innate 
 and carefully fostered stoicism, which at times ran into cyni- 
 cism, and a manner of thought positive and foreign to all ideal 
 creations of the mind, impressed his character with that striking 
 roughness which was at war with all forms. As a Protestant 
 he had little hope of promotion in the service of the state, and 
 a dependent position in private business did not answer to the 
 views of his family ; the ambitious youth was therefore sent to 
 the military academy of Tulln. The circumstance that at this 
 period several Protestants of the Zips were generals in the Aus- 
 trian army gave popularity to the military service in the county. 
 
 Arthur Gorgey now entered upon a new sphere, which how- 
 ever had the same influence on his character as his first impres- 
 sions. The Austrian army is unlike any other in the esprit de 
 corps prevailing among the officers. The majority of the officers 
 are sons of Austrian officers. All these men of course have no 
 other home than the army : they are not soldiers of the Austrian 
 realm, but, like the Praetorians in the decline of the Roman em- 
 pire, soldiers of the monarch, and pride themselves on holding 
 this position. In principle, perfect equality is established in 
 the army ; but in practice, favouritism prevails, and the younger 
 sons of the aristocracy are promoted over the heads of their 
 seniors in service. 
 
 Arthur Gorgey distinguished himself in the military school, 
 on quitting which he entered the Hungarian body-guards at 
 Vienna. Unlike his comrades, who abandoned themselves 
 heedlessly to the gayety of the capital, sacrificing not unfrequently 
 both character and purse, Gorgey sought to avail himself of his 
 position in Vienna, to perfect his military knowledge, despising 
 the routine of frivolous amusements. 
 
 When Gorgey entered the Palatinal hussars as lieutenant, 
 they were quartered in Bohemia. It was always the policy of 
 Austria rarely to assign the regiments stations in their native 
 country. Two-thirds of the Hungarian soldiers were quartered 
 in Galicia, Bohemia, Italy, and Austria Proper. 
 
 Prince Alfred Windischgratz was at that time commander-in- 
 chief in Bohemia. The prince was a thorough aristocrat, 
 whose ambition was not to become a great general, but to bo 
 
280 LIFE OF GORGEY. 
 
 the first gentleman of the realm. Educated in the medieval 
 ideas, he believed the aristocracy exclusively privileged to 
 receive commissions in the army. He considered the army as 
 the only support of the state, and that its outward splendour 
 should answer to its position, and command the respect of the 
 bureaucrats, the "heroes of the pen." The regiments under 
 his command were accordingly crack regiments, and the officers 
 were led into expenditure above their means. 
 
 Gorgey was indignant at the prospect of poverty interfering 
 with his promotion ; and the more so, as he was aware how 
 much inferior to him in point of talent and knowledge were his 
 superiors in rank. His social life in the army likewise became 
 intolerable ; although accustomed to stoical privations from his 
 youth, it was difficult for him to abstain altogether from the 
 amusements of his comrades, whose extravagance he could not 
 equal: his pride was constantly hurt — his military position 
 seemed to him a mere brilliant misery, and he resolved to quit 
 the army. His superiors, Prince Windischgratz among the 
 rest, regretted to lose so distinguished an officer, and assured 
 him of their assistance ; but this very circumstance only 
 strengthened his resolution, — he was too proud to owe advance- 
 ment to such aid. His parents and relatives decidedly opposed 
 his abandoning a career in which he had already overcome the 
 first and chief difficulties ; they represented to him how small 
 a fortune he had to inherit, and how insufficient it would be 
 for his future wants. But Gorgey adhered to his determination ; 
 he severed all the ties that bound him to the society in which 
 he had moved, and even broke off an engagement with an 
 amiable young lady, to whom he had long been betrothed, but 
 who, like himself, having no fortune, could not have married 
 him until he had attained the rank of captain. The allowance 
 granted to him by his family was barely sufficient to clear him 
 from debt, and he stood isolated in the world. 
 
 Gorgey went to the university of Prague. Familiar from his 
 military education with the exact sciences, he now devoted 
 himself to the study of chemistry, and Professor Kettenbach 
 soon pronounced him to be his best pupil. At this period 
 Gorgey was so straitened in his means, that he lodged in a 
 garret and lived upon twopence a day, his dinner usually con- 
 sisting of a piece of bread and cold sausage. The originality 
 of his character, and the inflexible determination with which 
 he submitted to every privation, won the heart of a young lady 
 of fortune. But Gorgey fancied that he discerned in her 
 attachment a mixture of pity, and a love of amusement; nor 
 would he be indebted to his wife to whom he had not the 
 means of offering a comfortable maintenance, and he withdrew 
 from the match. The companion whom Gorgey selected was 
 one who might in every respect look up to him : he married a 
 
LIFE OF GORGET. 281 
 
 governess, who possessed no more than himself. He soon 
 afterward returned to his native country, and retired to a 
 small estate in the county of Zips, which he had just inherited 
 from an aunt. 
 
 When in the spring of 1848 the old system of absolutism was 
 broken up, and Kossuth, then minister of finance, endeavoured 
 to assemble around him the most talented men of Hungary, and 
 develop all the resources of the country, Captain Trangous, 
 the chief of the mining department in the ministry, proposed 
 the employment of Arthur Gorgey as chemist of the mint. 
 Kossuth negatived this proposal decidedly, remarking, " This is 
 no place for Gorgey — before a twelvemonth he will be minister 
 of war in Hungary ." Possibly these words of Kossuth may 
 have resuscitated the military ambition which had slumbered 
 in Gorgey' s mind. Shortly after this time we find him in 
 office, intrusted with the equipment of the national guards, 
 under Colonel Marziani, who was then at the head of this 
 department. The colonel was an able officer ; and the prime 
 minister, Count Louis Batthyanyi, placed full reliance in him, 
 being a relative by his mother's side. The count had no idea 
 that Marziani had an understanding with the Viennese ministry, 
 and was even better apprized of the plans of Jellachich and 
 the Camarilla than the Hungarian ministry. The arming of 
 the guards was continually delayed, and the agreements with 
 foreign gun-manufacturers were such as not to insure the delivery 
 of a single musket ; Marziani had shortened by an inch the 
 fourteen thousand gun-barrels in store at Buda, so as to render 
 them unserviceable, at the same time that he prevented any 
 arms being purchased in foreign countries. Gorgey soon dis- 
 covered this treachery, of which he informed Count Batthy- 
 anyi ; but the count gave no credit to his warnings, until Mar- 
 ziani quitted the Hungarian service ; he had done enough for 
 the Camarilla, and proceeded to the Austrian army in Italy. 
 
 Hungary was at this time deficient not only in arms, but in 
 troops. A considerable number of the Hungarian regiments 
 were far removed from their country ; some were engaged against 
 the Serbs, and the ministry could not rely on the German and 
 Galician troops in Hungary. The diet had passed a bill for a 
 new levy of soldiers, but this had not yet been sanctioned, and 
 the army of Jellachich was already on the frontier. The only 
 alternative left to the Hungarians was to resort to voluntary 
 enlistment ; and ten battalions were thus formed, most of whom 
 were soon engaged against the Serbs. The national guards, 
 therefore, were employed against the enemy, and a levy en masse 
 was proclaimed. Four of the most distinguished officers — Gor- 
 gey, Ivanka, Marjassy, and Kosztolanyi — were raised to the 
 rank of major, and sent into the four districts of Hungary to 
 organize levies. 
 
282 LIFE OF GORGEY. 
 
 For the first time in his life Gorgey had now an independent 
 sphere of action, and he perfectly answered the expectations 
 which had been formed of his skill. The division he organized 
 was soon the best disciplined, and brought into the strictest 
 order ; and when Jellachich, in September, approached Pesth, 
 Gorgey covered the left wing of the Hungarian army, and occu- 
 pied the island of Csepel in the Danube. 
 
 Gorgey was the first who irrevocably espoused the Hunga- 
 rian cause. On the 3d of October, the Croatian generals, Roth 
 and Philippovics, with ten thousand men, all their standards, 
 two batteries, ammunition, and baggage, surrendered at Ozora 
 to the Hungarians on the open field. Gorgey, Perczel, and Wil- 
 liam Csapo, the commanders of the different corps which sur- 
 rounded the Croats, were the heroes of the day. The diet con- 
 ferred on Gorgey the rank of colonel as a reward of his bravery, 
 and the committee of defence despatched him with his troops 
 toward the Austrian frontier in pursuit of Jellachich and his 
 demoralized army. 
 
 In the battle of Schwechat, Gorgey commanded the vanguard, 
 and exposed himself to the hottest fire. On the battle-field he 
 was raised to the rank of general, and two days later appointed 
 commander-in-chief of the army of the Danube ; the finest body 
 of the Hungarian troops was under his command. During the 
 month of November and in the beginning of December, Gorgey 
 organized his army. He accustomed the troops to stand fire by 
 continual outpost skirmishes, and maintained a strict discipline. 
 The army was ready for battle, animated by the most ardent 
 patriotism and confidence in victory. But Gorgey and his offi- 
 cers had no faith in ultimate success ; they wished to struggle 
 to the last, to save the honour of the Hungarian army, and if 
 possible to secure an arrangement with Austria, — not to conquer. 
 
 This was the temper prevalent among the Hungarian officers 
 when in December Windischgratz invaded the country. Gor- 
 gey himself appeared to be impressed with a conviction that he 
 should fall in a decisive battle ; he summoned his wife to Eaab, 
 to bid her farewell, and obtained for her and his cousin a pass- 
 port to France, her native country, that she might return thither 
 in case of his death. No decisive battle, however, took place ; 
 Perczel was defeated at Moor before he could effect a junction 
 with Gorgey, and the committee of defence determined on aban- 
 doning Pesth, without accepting battle under the walls of the 
 capital. Gorgey was ordered to withdraw to the northern coun- 
 ties, with a view to bring into action the resources of that part 
 of the country, to draw Windischgratz to the mountains, and 
 divert his attention from Debreczin. Gorgey, however, had 
 scarcely left Pesth when he disavowed Kossuth, and issued a 
 proclamation indicating all those facts which confirmed the 
 legality of the resistance of the Hungarians. He was evidently 
 
LIFE OF GORGEY. 283 
 
 anxious to enter into negotiations for himself and his army. 
 Prince Windischgratz was aware of this ; his troops moreover 
 were exhausted by the rapid march from Vienna to Pesth, and 
 he was consequently unable to advance on the marshy plains 
 toward Debreczin. He despatched some battalions in pursuit 
 of Gorgey, but at the same time he also sent a halfpay Austrian 
 officer, a relative of the Magyar chief, with proposals of accom- 
 modation. He promised amnesty to Gorgey's troops, and their 
 incorporation into the Austrian army, all the officers retaining 
 their rank. The Hungarian army, however, was not prepared 
 for surrender ; the soldiers wer*e anxious to fight, not to nego- 
 tiate ; the discomfiture at Schemnitz had not demoralized them, 
 and the enthusiasm which greeted them everywhere increased 
 their ardour. Gorgey now led them into the narrow valleys of 
 Zipsen, pressed by the columns of Gb'tz and Jablonowski, while 
 •Schlik closed the d6houch6s in the direction of the Theiss. The 
 Hungarian army was in a desperate position ; there was but 
 one outlet, the precipitous defile of the Branisko Pass, which 
 was held by Schlik ; unless this could be stormed, no alterna- 
 tive remained but to surrender : this was in fact his intention. 
 He did not believe that the Hungarian government could hold 
 out at Debreczin ; and in daily expectation of hearing that the 
 town had been taken, he thought this the right moment for 
 capitulation. He ordered Guyon to carry the Pass of Branisko, 
 without at all believing that this could be effected; but the 
 lion-hearted Briton achieved an exploit which Gorgey deemed 
 impossible. When the news spread that the road to Eperies 
 had been opened, and that Schlik was put to flight, Gorgey dryly 
 said, " We have more luck than brains 1" At the same time 
 he resolved to avail himself of the luck; he soon formed a 
 junction with Klapka, and then heard of the defeat of the other 
 Austrian divisions. 
 
 When Gorgey heard this news his position was naturally 
 changed. Klapka, always straightforward and sincere, asked 
 him what was the meaning of the proclamations in which he had 
 disavowed the government. Gorgey replied, that they had been 
 extorted from him by the spirit and temper of his officers, and 
 that various intrigues in the army had compelled him to resort 
 to such measures in order to keep his forces together. This 
 lame excuse satisfied Klapka, who did not conceive the possibi- 
 lity of treachery, but not Kossuth. The Hungarian armies 
 effected a junction, and Dembinski was named commander-in- 
 •hief. This appointment wounded Gorgey's pride, although he 
 must have been aware that his ambiguous dealings were little 
 calculated to inspire confidence. 
 
 The ambitious general now began to intrigue, veiling his own 
 designs under the pretended will of his officers. At length 
 Dembinski was forced to resign. It was then that Beothy, the 
 
284 LIFE OF GORGEY. 
 
 tried and venerable patriot, said to the president, " Put Gorgey 
 on his trial before a court-martial, or this man will become the 
 Marmont of Hungary/' Kossuth named Vetter the commander- 
 in-chief, and the intrigues recommenced. Vetter fell ill, and 
 the command devolved on Gorgey ; his ambition might now 
 have rested ; but after a series of brilliant victories had driven 
 the Austrians to the very frontiers of Hungary, Kossuth's name 
 still remained the watchword of the country, Gorgey's being 
 second, coupled with that of Bern. The general became more 
 and more reserved toward the president ; he began to hate Kos- 
 suth, at seeing him the first man in the country, placed above 
 himself. The most precious time was now lost by Gorgey ; he 
 purposely avoided dismembering the Austrian monarchy by a 
 bold march to Vienna, and instead of carrying out the resolu- 
 tions of the government, he beleaguered Buda. At the same 
 time he was connected with the republican party in Debreczin;. 
 his aim was evidently a military dictatorship, by whatever 
 party obtained. 
 
 When the tidings came of the Russian intervention, Gorgey' s 
 ambition took a different turn. Convinced as he was that Hun- 
 gary could not resist the combined forces of Russia and Austria, 
 his position became very similar to what it had been in the 
 month of December, at the time when Windischgratz invaded 
 Hungary with superior forces. He therefore resolved to pursue 
 the policy in which he had formerly been successful, viz. to 
 isolate his own position, disavow the government, and carry on 
 alone the war or negotiations, as circumstances and the opera- 
 tions of the other Hungarian armies might render expedient. 
 
 Gorgey of course sought to secure the fullest confidence of 
 his generals and superior officers. Guyon, who for a long time 
 past distrusted him, was with the army of the south ; the gene- 
 rous-hearted Aulich was in the government, and Damianich 
 had fractured his leg. The man, therefore, now of chief im- 
 portance to Gorgey was Klapka, the most talented of the younger 
 generals. But the cunning Scepusian soon saw that Klapka 
 was not disposed to break with Kossuth and the government, 
 and from this moment all intimacy between these two generals 
 subsided. The intrigues were carried on without Klapka's 
 knowledge or assent, but he took no notice of this. His com- 
 rades even mentioned negotiations, but he remained ignorant 
 of any thing of the kind, nor would he credit them. Gorgey was 
 insincere in his conduct, and did not disclose to him his inten- 
 tions. 
 
 At the end of June and the beginning of July, the govern- 
 ment repeatedly directed the army to retire to Pesth, and form 
 a junction with the corps of Perczel and Dessewffy. Gorgey 
 did not obey, and sent a contemptuous message to the govern- 
 ment, that it might provide for its own safety, as he was unable 
 
LIFE OP GORGEY. 285 
 
 to protect the capital. At the same time he displayed the most 
 heroic personal bravery in battle, exposing himself to the balls 
 of the enemy — he was wounded. He continued to excite the 
 troops against the government ; and when the latter deposed 
 him, his officers expressed a request that he should be retained 
 in the command. Meanwhile the Russian government informed 
 the cabinets of Europe by its ambassadors, that Gorgey was 
 unwilling to co-operate with Kossuth and the southern army, 
 that he purposely allowed himself to be cut off from the capital 
 and the other Hungarian corps, and was ready to negotiate. 
 After this treacherous general had long enough wasted time and 
 forces, he left Klapka at Komorn, and departed with his army, 
 alternately fighting and negotiating with the Russians. He led 
 his troops to believe that his object was to form a junction with 
 the other corps, but he always took the most circuitous route. 
 Long and forced retreats demoralized' his army : the best bat- 
 talions were always exposed to the Russians with insufficient 
 support, and after every engagement Russian parleys were held 
 in his tent. 
 
 The tidings of the lost battle of Temesvar were a thunder- 
 stroke to the governor. Gorgey now called upon him to abdi- 
 cate, as a general alone could save the country in such a crisis. 
 Kossuth yielded, and Gorgey became dictator, — but for no longer 
 a space than twenty-four hours. Suddenly and heedlessly, se- 
 duced by vanity and ambition, he surrendered to the Russians 
 unconditionally, not even securing the lives of his friends who 
 had supported him throughout. His last public act was to call 
 upon the commanders of the different fortresses to surrender, 
 signifying to them that he himself had surrendered uncondition- 
 ally, and explaining this by stating, "that Kossuth had ap- 
 pointed Bern commander-in-chief instead of himself, notwith- 
 standing that the diet had desired him to assume the chief com- 
 mand ; this piece of knavery," he says, " explains all." 
 
 Gorgey thus himself acknowledges his motive for the sur- 
 render to have been a personal one, — of hatred and revenge 
 against Kossuth, because the governor did not confide in him, 
 and would not make him the arbiter of his country's fate. By 
 this confession he condemned himself, and yet this is the patriot 
 of the apologists of Austria ! He is now living in Klagenfurt, 
 upon an Austrian pension, while his friends and comrades in 
 victory have ended their lives on the gallows. 
 
JOACHIM BEM. 
 
 Or the early life of Bern little is known. He was born in 
 1791. At the commencement of the struggles of his brave 
 countrymen, the Poles, for national existence, he was a young 
 man of great energy and firmness, and possessed of a good edu- 
 cation. For his brave conduct in the battle of Igania, he was 
 made a major. But his fame expanded . into full bloom on 
 the field of Ostrolenka, on the ruins of the Narew bridge. On 
 that occasion, with only twelve cannons, he prevented the Rus- 
 sian columns of infantry from debouching en masse, and as he 
 lay wounded on the ground, directed his cannoneers with won- 
 derful composure and presence of mind. His general's title, a 
 few orders, and more wounds, were all that Bern carried with 
 him into exile. 
 
 Europe had long forgotten him, and his countrymen alone 
 still followed his steps with interest ; for the Poles always look 
 with confidence and hope to the coming time, and to the powers 
 which it shall call forth. Their faith in Bern began however to 
 fail, when, wearied of wasting the power of his genius in inac- 
 tivity and fruitless expectation, he sought to raise a Polish legion 
 for the service of Don Pedro. This enterprise characterizes the 
 man at that period. The champion of the freedom of Poland 
 would rather have seen the blood of the exiles flow in the cause 
 of Don Pedro than remain longer deprived of the charms of 
 war. But his countrymen had not fought on the soil of Poland 
 for the mere pleasure of slaying Cossacks and Tartars ; war 
 was to them the means, not the end, and they rejected Bern's 
 summons : he was even fired at by a young Pole. The expe- 
 dition fell to the ground. 
 
 For a considerable time Bern resided in foreign countries, 
 until the events of March, 1848, induced him to return to his 
 native land. He seems to have looked forward to a pacific so- 
 lution of the political embarrassments of Austria ; at least his 
 pursuits indicated such an expectation, and tended to transform 
 the soldier into a peaceable citizen. His treatises on the or- 
 ganization of the artillery department, on the manufacture of 
 powder and congreve rockets, were followed by pamphlets on 
 the distillation of brandy, the working in wood and metal, and a 
 286 
 
'life of bem. 287 
 
 guide to mnemonics, chiefly framed on the unpractical princi- 
 ples adopted in the Russian schools. 
 
 On the 14th of October he appeared in Vienna, and presented 
 himself to Messenhauser, the commander-in-chief of the national 
 guard. But the mass of the citizens did not possess the same 
 historical knowledge as Messenhauser: Bern's character and 
 fame had first to be examined, and placarded at the corners of 
 the streets, to excite the confidence of the populace. 
 
 Bem has often been reproached for not having at once repre- 
 sented to the Viennese the uselessness of their resistance : he, 
 more than any one, must have foreseen the hopelessness of the 
 struggle, and it was consequently his duty to have prevented a 
 vain waste of life. But besides that, it is not in Bern's nature 
 to turn his back upon the prospect of a glorious cannonade, and 
 that he is ever ready to risk his own and others' lives where 
 there is the smallest chance of success ; he knew well enough 
 that the resistance of Vienna would give the Hungarians time 
 to arm, and in fact he hoped for relief from that quarter. 
 
 Hence it was that in full earnest he organized and conducted 
 the game of soldiers that was played on the lines of Vienna. 
 His indefatigable energy was something fabulous ; and his 
 aides-de-camp, mostly of the Viennese guards, always approached 
 the rough little man with a kind of awe ; every thing was con- 
 ducted with perfect military strictness, and in the midst of 
 platoon firing he would stop short and call upon them to render 
 him some deliberate reports. Such conduct surpassed the power 
 of conception of these easy-tempered burghers ; but Bem had 
 long lost sight of the standard by which the feelings of ordinary 
 men must be measured in the midst of the cannon's fire. 
 
 He was one evening riding along the streets which lie oppo- 
 site to the Prater in the Leopoldstadt. Behind the trees was 
 posted a battalion of imperial riflemen ; a small projecting corner 
 house seemed to him well adapted as a post to command the main 
 street, and he had the day before given orders for this house to 
 be occupied. A corporal with ten men formed the garrison. 
 Bem ordered the man to be called before him in the street, and 
 a young fellow with blond hair, about sixteen years of age, 
 made his appearance, dressed in the uniform of the legion. Bem 
 took him aside, pointed out to him the importance of this post, 
 and laying his hand upon his shoulder, said to him significantly, 
 "Corporal, you hold this place to the last man: you stir not 
 from this spot — never — do you hear?" So saying he rode 
 slowly on. The young corporal followed him with a look of 
 astonishment : "Never to stir from this house ! — the last man ! 
 — a strange demand indeed \" 
 
 The next evening the imperial riflemen were looking out of 
 the windows of the house above mentioned. Whether the cor- 
 
288 LIFE OF BEM. 
 
 poral defended his post to the last man, — whether in truth he 
 never quitted the house, is more than we can say. 
 
 There is no doubt that the Viennese fought bravely at many 
 points; but for Bern to have expected from every one of his 
 inferiors the courage and resolution of heroes, was an error 
 characteristic of this general. 
 
 Of his great valour and conduct in the Hungarian struggle, 
 we have already given an account. As commander-in-chief, 
 with the forces which Gorgey had under his orders, he would 
 have secured a glorious triumph to the patriots. At Temesvar, 
 it was not in the power of any general with the same means as 
 those within Bern's command to be successful. The numbers 
 of the enemy were overpowering, and he was forced to give way. 
 It may be doubted whether Bern was equal to Gorgey in power 
 of combination, though he was far more active, and his tactics 
 were somewhat original. In the management of artillery he 
 had no superior. 
 
 Bern took refuge in Turkey with Kossuth, Dembinski, and 
 others, when Gorgey slew his country. But he went further 
 than most of his companions. He embraced the Mohammedan 
 faith and customs, and became an effendi. It is presumed that 
 this was a matter of policy altogether, as the heroic Pole there- 
 by increased the importance of his position, and exercised some 
 influence upon the councils of the Porte. Bern was not spared 
 to participate in another uprising of the people. He died in the 
 early part of 1851, retaining his Mohammedan professions to 
 the last. Bern had two passions which coloured his whole life. 
 He loved war, and hated tyranny. Russia he regarded as 
 the great support of despotism in Europe, and Russia ever 
 found Bern in the ranks of her enemies. Such men are, perhaps, 
 necessary for the success of republicanism in Europe, but they 
 cannot be entirely recommended as examples worthy of imita- 
 tion. 
 
 THE END. 
 
te^f cr t * r o<i/ 
 
 PECK & BLISS'S CHEAP EDITION. 
 
 KOSSUTH 
 
 HUNGARIAN WAR: 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 a (CnrnpUh listartj nf tij? lafr itrtrggk nf tjii 
 Itntgariittts for Xihrtt}: 
 
 WITH NOTICES OF THE 
 
 LEADING CHIEFS ANJ> STATESMEN 
 
 WHO DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES TN COUNCIL AND IN THE FIELD. 
 
 WITH AUTHENTIC PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 H. C. PECK & THEO. BLISS. 
 1851. 
 
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