The Croats and Slovaks in Hungary

* Cologne, 18 February.
No. 226, 19 February 1849
Neue Rheinische Zeitung.

While the Austrian papers have for some days been fabling about a victory of Ottinger over Dembinski – at Debreczin!! –, ever more menacing thunderclouds are gathering in the Slav provinces of Hungary for the Imperial and Royal entire monarchy. For a considerable time now – since the storming of Vienna, indeed – we have drawn attention to the inevitability of a break between the Austrian government and the Slavs. This break is now open.

Let us begin with the Serbs. The Grazer Zeitung receives the following communication from Temeswar, written in the Austrian interest: “In the Banat, Serbian encroachments are beginning which, unless all signs are deceptive, will in time also necessitate an armed intervention, especially as a section of the Serbs, more presumptuous even than the Magyaromanes themselves, is trying to suppress completely the other nationalities in the Voivodeship, and the Romanians and Germans there are therefore preparing for open resistance. Between the higher military authorities and the Voivodeship the split is already almost open, and I assure you that we must prepare for a struggle against the Serbs. At any rate, it has now become clear to us that the alleged sympathy for the Austrian cause is not of that purity which characterises that of the Croats. The matter will shortly come to an open decision.”

It is known that Karlovitz, the seat of the Banat government, i.e., of the Serbian “supreme committee”, whose vice-president is the “rebel” Stratimirovich, has already been placed in a state of siege.

But what about the “purity” of the Croats’ “sympathy”? Let us hear:

“Prague, 13 February. Events in Croatia are causing a great stir in Czech circles. Now it must be decided, they say, whether Jellachich sides with his country or with the dynasty. The officers already say openly that once Hungary is finished, they will march into Croatia.”

Thus speaks the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. And the Slav Constitutional Paper from Bohemia speaks just as plainly: It writes from Kremsier on 11 February that the letters reporting the discontented mood among the Slovaks and Croats are multiplying daily. The newly appointed Austrian government commissioners in the Slovak comitates are all Magyars, their decrees are issued in the Magyar language, and they “threaten with death” if their communications are not accepted. Then it says that Jellachich is extremely dissatisfied that his troops are to be separated and partly used for garrison duty, while other troops are placed under his command. The trick is a good one; Jellachich, who for 6-8 weeks has been suspect anyway and is watched by Windischgrätz’s agents, is thus rendered harmless. And here the Constitutional Paper from Bohemia adds: “What will Jellachich say to the state of siege in Karlovitz? Will he not have an inkling of that: today me, tomorrow you? For now, to complete the equality of nationalities, only Agram, the Croats, are missing – for the Germans, the Hungarians, the Poles, the Italians, and above all the Czechs have already become acquainted with the equalising state of siege.”

It is already known, by the way, that Windischgrätz has installed a new Hungarian government commission in Pesth which, to the great horror of the Croats, claims all the rights of the old Hungarian government, and thereby nullifies the intended South Slav realm. The Croats had already been dreaming of independence from Hungary, when suddenly a rescript from Pesth arrives at the Croatian Landesgubernium and demands submission, and this rescript, to make matters worse, is – in the Magyar language, without a Croatian translation!! The Slavenski Jug immediately prints it in the original and cannot contain itself for indignation. The Croats are foaming; they are being treated exactly as they were under Kossuth! And that is the reward for their faithful services in saving the entire monarchy!

If one wants to know how this is connected, let him read the Vienna Presse. There is an article here in which Prince Windischgrätz is directly reproached with having allowed himself to be ensnared by the Hungarian aristocracy, that he lets a host of Magyar magnates, some prisoners, some who have gone over to his side, walk about freely in Pesth, yes, even distinguishes them, etc.

It is clear, the aristocrat Windischgrätz knows very well that his goal, the preservation of noble rule in Hungary, can only be attained through the preservation of the rule of the Magyar nobility. Hence the protection and the partiality which he bestows upon the Magyar magnates. Whether the Croats and Slovaks suffer thereby is a matter of indifference to him: once he has tamed and aristocratised Hungary, he will soon deal with the Slavs, who are broken up and powerless without Austrian leadership – remember Prague! And the great Schwanbeck looks for the aristocracy not in Windischgrätz’s camp but in Kossuth’s! Voilà ce que c’est que d’être un savant sérieux!