Part 23

“But with the increased diffusion of liberal opinions, the opposition to them strengthened, and was gradually assuming a more selfish character. It became apparent that the advocates of reform would not be content with merely removing the most flagrant abuses. When the untitled nobility had laid down all the privileges which separated them from the common people, it was not to be supposed that the nation would see with indifference the enormous influence exerted in the state by a few families.[24] Already some of the liberal party had recalled the fact that the chamber of magnates was an innovation introduced under the Austrian administration, and there were many indications that the titled aristocracy would be called on to make some sacrifices in their turn. Experience has shown, again and again, that men who are capable, individually, of making the greatest sacrifices, become selfish and tenacious as members of an order. The interests of the magnates of Hungary, and those of the emperor of Austria, became every day more closely intertwined. There were still, however, among them noble examples of patriotism and disinterestedness. Széchényi was still true to the principles of his youth. The name of Batthyányi has been already consecrated by martyrdom.

“The diet was again convened for 1843. The Austrian cabinet had now abandoned the idea of intimidation, and returned to the line of policy it had adopted in 1832. The royal propositions called the attention of the diet to some of the principal measures of reform demanded by the liberal party. The charge of defeating them was left to the upper house. The two parties in the state, that adverse and that favourable to reform, were already known by the names of the government party and the opposition. Among the opponents of reform were found all who held offices by the appointment of the crown, and likewise—with regret it must be spoken—the dignitaries of the Church, who gave their influence and their votes constantly on the side of the Austrian government. Meanwhile, the same means were put in requisition, as in the case of the former diet, to defeat the election of the liberal candidates. Money was not spared. All the influence of the government and of the conservative magnates was called into exercise. But without effect. The voice of the nation pronounced itself, with decision, for the liberal side. The party of reform had, as before, a very large majority in the lower house. New victories were obtained for the cause of freedom. The most important measure which was passed during this session of the diet was that which gave the peasant the right to become the possessor of landed property, without restriction. The law of 1836 had given him the power of acquiring the property of the land which he held as tenant, by means of contracts between himself and the manorial lord. The act of 1843 permitted him to become the owner, by purchase, of noble property, as if himself noble. The advocates of this bill took the ground, that, by their ancient constitution, the peasant possessed this right, and that it was but a revival and confirmation of a law already existing, though long unrecognized. While this question was under debate, one of the members proposed, as an amendment, that this right should be extended only to such peasants as understood the Hungarian language; but he was instantly reminded by his colleagues, that ‘the law gave all the inhabitants of Hungary the title of Hungarians, and that all, having equally shed their blood for the defence of the country, had a right to share in the same advantages.’ The act was passed without any condition. It was likewise carried in the upper house, where it owed its success chiefly to the exertions of Count Széchényi.

“Another very important measure, which likewise originated at the second table, was carried during the diet of 1843. This was a law by which all public functions were rendered accessible to the non-nobles.

“The liberal party could not, however, yet succeed in obtaining the passage of a law for the equal distribution of the taxes. It was in vain that Széchényi exerted all his eloquence. The victory was still delayed. But, in the mean time, in anticipation of the law, great numbers of the liberal party caused themselves to be inscribed on the list of those subject to taxation. ‘There is not a county,’ says De Gerando, ‘in which the liberals have not, in crowds, given this proof of their patriotism.’[25]

“The chamber of deputies attempted several other measures of reform, which were lost through the opposition of the upper house. Among these were, the abolition of the _aviticitas_, and the introduction of trial by jury. The states likewise passed some decrees favourable to Hungarian commerce;[26] these having, with some difficulty, passed the upper house, were by the government ‘deferred to the next diet,’—a common mode, with the Austrian cabinet, of disposing of measures to which it does not venture to give a direct veto.

“The liberal members of the diet had not succeeded in carrying all their measures, but, during the short time they had been in session, they had rendered great service to the country, and they were confident of obtaining yet greater victories at the next convention of the national assembly, which was to take place in 1847.

“The government in 1845, finding all its attempts to arrest the progress of the liberal party unsuccessful, resolved to renew the attempt which had been made in the time of Joseph, and attack the liberty of Hungary in its very stronghold,—the municipal governments. Hungary has been, from the earliest times, divided into counties, each of which possesses an independent administration; so that the kingdom may be said to be composed of a number of small states, united by a federal compact, and represented, by their deputies, in the general diet of the nation. Each of these counties is presided over by a Föispán, or supreme count, who is usually one of the large landed proprietors of the county. Under him is an Alispán (Viscount), on whom the principal business of the county devolves. The salaries of these officers are, on the true republican principle, very moderate. The honour of serving the country is regarded as sufficient recompence. The law provides, that, in case of neglect of duty on the part of the Föispán, the king may, _at the instance of the county_, oblige him to resign his office into the hands of an administrator, to be named by the king. The government made the absence of some of these magistrates from the counties over which they presided the pretext for a general displacement. This was done without the consent of the counties, and even in cases where the Föispán had resigned his other offices for the purpose of devoting himself to the affairs of his county. The new administrators brought with them a complete set of under officers, and, instead of receiving the moderate stipend awarded by the county to its chief magistrate, had very large salaries from the Austrian government. It was the intention of the cabinet, by this illegal measure, to overrule the elections, as it had already done in Croatia.[27] The appointment of these administrators excited an indignation, which their conduct did not tend to allay. It was in vain, however, that the counties presented remonstrances to the king against the mal-administration of these functionaries. All complaints were disregarded, and this new encroachment on their rights was added to the list of grievances for whose redress the nation was to combat at the next meeting of the diet.

“In June, 1847, the opposition party issued a programme of the measures which they intended to advocate at the next meeting of the diet. They begin with declaring that, in giving their opposition or their support, they shall have regard, not to persons, but to acts; that they shall disapprove of those acts of the government only which are, in their form or their essence, illegal, or which are calculated to affect injuriously the interests of the country. They proceed to recount some of the most serious of the long-neglected grievances of the nation:—

“‘Our heavy grievances, so many times exposed, after a long course of years, in which we have asked, urged, waited, have remained even to this day without a remedy. They have become more bitter, because our legitimate complaints, so often heard, have never produced any result. It is for this reason that confidence and hope begin to fail.

“‘In the mass of our grievances there are some on which the opinion of the whole nation is unanimous, including the men who are now members of the Hungarian government. Nevertheless, the government does not seek to remedy the evil; we cannot see, on their part, any intention of relieving it.... In addition to our complaints of long standing, we find new grievances in recent acts of the government. We have no need to relate them in full; the public consultations of the counties, their representations and their circulars, have already fully exposed and registered them.... In this alarming situation of our country, we must strive to increase and strengthen the legal guarantees of our constitutional existence. We regard the responsibility of the government as one of these guarantees. This belongs to the very nature of constitutional government, and will form the best defence of the Hungarian government against the pernicious influence of foreign elements.

“‘Among the constitutional guarantees we count publicity. This we will maintain, with all our force, in regard to every branch of public life. We regard as a constitutional guarantee, and as a necessary means to our future national development, the liberty of the press, limited by suitable laws. We shall therefore insist upon the abolition of the censorship, which has been introduced contrary to law.

“‘We regard it as legal, equitable, and as important for the increase of the national strength and the security of our independence, that Transylvania and Hungary should be fully and legally united; that the two nations may be restored to each other, and the claims of kindred and the long-expressed wishes of both countries satisfied.

“‘But we shall not regard our mission as accomplished when we have fortified the guarantees of our constitutional existence. We believe ourselves called to labour continually for the accomplishment of all just reforms. We therefore resolutely declare, that we shall remain, for the future, on the ground on which the history of the last years has made the name of opposition synonymous with that of reform....

“‘In conformity with all that precedes, while we regard it as our indispensable duty to guard the right of the initiative, we also hold it our duty openly and clearly to point out the principal questions whose prompt solution we believe necessary for the good of the country:—

“‘1. The equal distribution of the public burdens. We regard it as our principal duty to lighten the burdens of the people, who have hitherto been alone subjected to taxation. We wish in this respect, also, to strengthen our constitutional guarantees. We desire that the diet should decide as to the disposition of the impost.

“‘2. Participation of the non-nobles, of the inhabitants of the royal cities, and of the free districts, in legislative and municipal rights.[28]

“‘3. Equality before the law.

“‘4. The abolition of the urbarial dues, with indemnity to the landed proprietors. We think it desirable that steps should be taken to render the redemption of these universal, through the assistance of the state.

“‘5. Security given to credit and property by the abolition of the _aviticitas_.

“‘We shall labour strenuously to call into life all that can tend to the material and intellectual development of the country. We shall endeavour to give to popular education, that powerful engine of national development, such a direction as shall form able and patriotic citizens, that the people may, by this means, likewise attain to personal independence....

“‘While labouring for the accomplishment of these ends, we shall never forget the relations which, by the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction, exist between Hungary and the hereditary states of Austria. But at the same time, we shall hold fast to the tenth article of 1790, by which the royal word, sanctified by an oath, guaranteed to our nation that Hungary is a free country, independent in its whole system of legislation and of administration, and that it is not subordinate to any other country.’

“The events which took place in France and Austria in the spring of 1848 gave to the cause of liberal principles a speedier triumph than its advocates had anticipated for it. Ferdinand, in the midst of a crumbling empire, was in no condition to refuse the demands of his people. Immediately after the revolution of the 13th of March in Vienna, the opposition party in Hungary issued a proclamation, headed, ‘_Mit kiván a magyar nemzet?_’—‘What asks the Magyar nation?’

“This manifesto sets forth twelve points of reform:—

“‘1. We ask freedom of the press, and the abolition of the censorship.

“‘2. A responsible ministry at Buda.

“‘3. Annual diet at Pest.

“‘4. Equality before the law, both as regards religious and civil rights.

“‘5. A national guard.

“‘6. An equal distribution of the public burdens.

“‘7. Abolition of the urbarial relations.

“‘8. Trial by jury.

“‘9. Representation on the principle of equality.

“‘10. A national bank.

“‘11. The army shall be required to take the oath to the constitution; the Magyar troops shall not be taken out of the country; the foreign troops shall be withdrawn.

“‘12. Union with Transylvania.’[29]

“To these articles, at the suggestion of Vahot, was added, the release of prisoners confined for political offences.[30]

“It is to be observed that these demands for equality before the law, and an equal distribution of the taxes, were not made by those who suffered by the existing injustice,—until these reforms were carried, these had no voice in any public matter,—but by the very persons whose privileges were to be abrogated.

“These measures of reform were rapidly passed by the diet. A deputation of Hungarian nobles then proceeded to Vienna, to lay them before the king, and obtain his sanction.

“On the 19th of March, placards, affixed to the walls of Pest, announced to the people that the royal assent to their demands had been obtained. A copy of a letter was given, addressed by the Palatine to Count Batthyányi, empowering him to form the long-desired Hungarian ministry. This announcement seemed to give the final pledge of the reality and permanence of their newly gained freedom. The people were satisfied. They had never had any other desire than to live quietly under just and equal laws. They believed their end accomplished. A partaker in the scenes of the 15th to the 19th of March, writing while the hopes of the people were still fresh, and before they had even a foreboding of the terrible disenchantment which was to follow, speaks thus:—

“‘That which in Italy has cost streams of blood, that to which, in France, hundreds and hundreds of men fell as sin-offerings, that which Germany must buy with blood, and again blood,—that have we Hungarians, who have been decried, through all Europe, as a seditious, lawless, turbulent people, gained without any disturbance of the public order. Our victory was no victory of force, but a victory of right,—a victory of intelligence. Our revolution was a revolution against disorder, to obtain the highest good of a free people,—order.’[31]

“Another eyewitness thus describes the effect produced on the people of Pest by the announcement of the royal assent:—

“‘It would be impossible to describe the joy which everywhere manifested itself. With deeply penetrated, devout hearts, we hastened to the church, to give thanks to the Omnipotent for this speedy bloodless accomplishment of our transformation. The church, when we entered, was filled with people, the sight of whose deep, enthusiastic devotion elevated the heart with a sublime feeling. When we left the church, I felt as if newly born, newly baptized.’[32]

“But this apparent triumph of their rights did but hasten the crisis which Austria had been for years preparing for the Hungarian nation.[33] While they were returning thanks to God for their freedom, redeemed without blood, Jellachich was receiving his orders from the Austrian cabinet.

“On the 24th of March, only five days after the date of the letter to Count Batthyányi, which had excited so much joy and gratitude among the people, the Palatine Stephen, son of the old, beloved Palatine Joseph, and who was himself possessed of the affection and confidence of the Hungarian people, addressed to the emperor a letter, in which he set forth the ‘three measures’ through which ‘alone’ he ‘hoped to accomplish anything in Hungary.’

“The first measure was to withdraw all the military force from the country, and to ‘abandon it to entire devastation,’ (dieses der gänzlichen Verwüstung zu überlassen,) to ‘pillage and fire,’ while the government was to look passively on. The second measure was to make an attempt upon Count Batthyányi, the President of the Hungarian ministry, and, through his means, ‘to save all that is to be saved.’ The third measure was to recall the Palatine, and to send a royal commissioner, invested with extraordinary powers, with a considerable armed force, to Presburg, who should repair to Pest, after the dissolution of the diet, and there carry on the government with a strong hand, in such a manner as circumstances may require.’[34] The Austrian cabinet adopted each of these measures in turn. The first was already in progress of preparation. Until their plans were matured for carrying the third into execution, it was necessary still to temporize. The good faith of the Hungarian ministry was not to be tampered with, but their credulity might be practised upon. They were, for a time, not less deceived than the rest of the nation.

“On the 11th of April, Ferdinand gave in person, at Presburg, his solemn sanction to the laws which had been promulgated in March. On the 10th of the following month, he issued a proclamation, addressed to the rebellious Croats and Servians, in which Jellachich was denounced as a traitor, and deprived of his banship, and all his military employments. In this proclamation, Ferdinand himself exposes the futility of the accusations which had been brought against the Hungarians as oppressors of the other races. He upbraids the rebels with their treason, in the following terms:—

“‘We have been deceived in you,—in you, Croats and Slavonians, who, for eight hundred years, under the same crown, sharing the destinies of Hungary, _have owed to this bond the constitutional freedom which you alone, among all Slavonian people, have been through a course of centuries in a condition to retain_.

“‘We find ourselves deceived in you,—_you, who have not only always shared equally in all the rights and privileges of the Hungarian constitution_, but also, by the favour of our illustrious ancestors, in reward of your spotless fidelity, have been invested with greater privileges than any other subjects of our sacred Hungarian crown.

“‘We have been deceived in you to whom the last diet of Hungary and its dependent states granted, agreeably to our royal will, a brotherly share in all the benefits of constitutional freedom and equality before the law. The right of constitutional representation has, with you, as in Hungary, been extended to the people, so that not only the nobility, but also the other inhabitants, and the frontier regiments, through their deputies, may take part, as well in the general legislation as also in your municipal assemblies, and thus you yourselves, through your own immediate action, can forward your own prosperity. Hitherto the noble has had little share in the public burdens; henceforward the uniform distribution of the same among all the inhabitants, without distinction of class, is established by law, and thereby an oppressive burden has been taken from your shoulders.

“‘Your nationality and municipal rights, in regard to which an attempt has been made, by malicious, false reports, to inspire you with apprehensions, are not in any way threatened; on the contrary, they have been extended and strengthened, secured against all attacks; for _the use of your mother tongue has not only been secured to you by law in your schools and churches, for all future time, but has also been introduced into your public assemblies, in place of the Latin, hitherto in use_.

“‘Calumniators have endeavoured to persuade you that the Hungarian nation wishes to suppress your language, or to hinder its further development. _We ourselves assure you these reports are entirely false._

“‘_For eight hundred years have you been united with Hungary; during all this time, the legislature has acted with a regard to your nationality; how could you, then, believe that this same legislature would now show itself hostile to your mother tongue, which it has protected for eight hundred years?..._

“‘The law is holy, and must be holy. _We have sworn by the living God, that we will preserve the integrity of our Hungarian crown, that we will maintain and obey the constitution and the laws, and cause others to obey them._’

“This proclamation had the effect of confirming the Hungarians in their false security. It had no other effect. Jellachich continued to raise troops, and complete his preparations for the invasion of Hungary. The other agents of Austria in Southern Hungary incited the peasants with the hope of the rich plunder of the Hungarian towns and villages. The work of devastation began immediately after the promulgation of this edict.

“On the opening of the diet, on the 5th of July, the Palatine, in the name of the king, expressed his reprobation of the rebels in Croatia and Slavonia, who, as he said, had even dared to use the royal name, and to resist the laws under the pretext that they were not the free expression of the royal will. He assured them that it was his majesty’s desire that the representatives of the nation should consider it their first duty to take the necessary measures for restoring the tranquillity of the country, for preserving the integrity of the Hungarian kingdom, and for maintaining the sacred inviolability of the law. With this view, he recommended them to bestow their earliest attention _on the defence of the country and the state of the finances_. He declared that the king regarded with signal displeasure the audacious conduct of those who had ventured to assert that any act of disobedience to the law could be pleasing to his Majesty.

“In the mean time the southern provinces of Hungary were already a prey to fire and massacre,[35] while the Austrian generals looked quietly on. It was not until the 11th of July, that the nation was roused to a sense of its danger, and, on the motion of Kossuth, ordered a levy of men to defend the country against invasion.

“In August, the Austrian cabinet threw off the mask: the imperial troops began to march towards Zágráb, and to place themselves under the command of Jellachich. In their reply to the remonstrances of the Hungarian diet, the ministry at Vienna now spoke openly of the Croatian and Servian rebels as the brothers in arms of the imperial army.

“On the 4th of September, the emperor addressed a letter to the same Jellachich whom, not two months before, he had denounced as a traitor, in which he speaks of the ‘_indubitable proofs of fidelity and attachment which the Freiherr von Jellachich had repeatedly displayed since he has been named Ban of Croatia_.’