Hungary. 22 February 1849

Hungary.
No. 228, 22 February 1849
Neue Rheinische Zeitung.
* The Jews are, as is well known, the swindled swindlers everywhere, but especially in Austria. They exploited the revolution and are now being punished for it by Windischgrätz. Moreover, whoever knows what a power the Jews are in Austria will be able to judge what an enemy Windischgrätz has made for himself by the following proclamation:

Pesth, 13 February. (Amtliche Wiener Zeitung, Abendblatt) Proclamation. By my proclamations of 13 November and 13 December of last year, as well as of 7 January of the current year, I made known to all the inhabitants of Hungary the task I have to solve, namely the restoration of peace, order and legality. I have also seen with satisfaction the effect which has everywhere manifested itself as a result of these proclamations. Only a few localities, deluded by shameful wreckers, still attempt to disturb the much-needed tranquillity and order by spreading Kossuth appeals, orders and decrees. Inhabitants of Hungary! You have seen how much leniency has been exercised by me – on the assumption that the majority are likely to be more the misguided and the seduced than actual rebels; but he who now still attempts to make common cause with the Debrecen subversion party, to accept orders from it, to disseminate them, or to maintain any kind of connection whatsoever, to incite the communities, can no longer expect forbearance; such a one must be struck by the punishment of high treason.

I am dispatching troops in various directions, whose commanders will be invested with the jus gladii; he in whose possession a Kossuth appeal, or any document, letter, newspaper, etc., originating from that party is found, shall without mercy be subjected to summary court-martial, just as shall he who conceals weapons or incites the people to disobedience. – Every postmaster or postal official who accepts, let alone forwards, such documents, letters, or appeals coming from the Debrecen area shall be hanged. – Finally, I wish to warn the Jews of Ofen and Pesth, but especially those of Altofen, to abstain from any communication, whatever its name, with the arch-traitor Kossuth, the so-called honvédelmi bizottmány, and the rebel Diet, for I have gained the certainty that it is precisely the Israelites, for the most part, who let themselves be used as spies and suppliers for the rebels, just as they also make it their task to spread false and bad news of alleged victories of the rebels, in order to arouse fear and mistrust; therefore, for every Israelite who, on account of the above-mentioned offences, is tried by court-martial or summary court-martial, the Jewish community to which he belongs shall pay a fine of 20,000 florins, Convention currency. Headquarters Ofen, 11 February 1849.

Alfred, Prince of Windischgrätz, manu propria, Imperial-Royal Field Marshal.

After this proclamation, things are obviously very bad for the ‘citizen and communist’ Windischgrätz.

To return, however, to the Jews, the attempt of Windischgrätz to extort money from them has already received a “commencement of execution”, as the Code Napoléon says. The Constitutionelle Blatt aus Böhmen reports the following:

The Jews are to pay 1,200,000 florins once and for all as a commutation sum for the abolished toleration tax, over a period of five years, but they paid neither in the past year nor in the current year the amounts falling due. The arrears have now been called in. – The printer Eisenfels was arrested yesterday.

That the Jews must still pay for their emancipation is priceless. That is called in Prussian: “redemption of feudal burdens”.

Otherwise, there is nothing to report from Hungary except that in Pesth on 8 February the forwarding agent Franz Förster was shot by court-martial for participation in the insurrection through the attempted seizure of the steamship Hermine at Gran.

Concerning the ever more comical entanglements among the Slavs, the Leipziger Zeitung reports the following (the N.Rh.Z. has of course long known this):

Vienna, 14 February. From several provinces of the monarchy one hears of stubborn refusal to provide the required recruits. In the Prachin circle in Bohemia the peasants are refusing, under the pretext that the Diet had not granted the most recent recruiting drive, ordered on such a grand scale. In the countryside even more than in the capital Prague, a fairly striking ferment is noticeable. Should the government, as is asserted, shortly come forward with the compensation proposal concerning the abolished socage burdens, a new and more alarming tremor would probably be added to the countless, unending shocks of our political life. In the South Slav regions the confusion is growing; but clearly a most dangerous storm is also brewing, the aim and outcome of which cannot yet be foreseen. General Theodorovich had a state of siege declared in Karlowitz, the seat of the Serbian National Committee. The chaos of Serbian affairs is being increased by the specifically Austrian efforts of Consul Mayerhofer. With barely suppressed fury the South Slavs cry: Treason! They maintain that all the measures recently taken by the government in Hungary are aimed at restoring Ultra-Magyarism, provided it wraps itself in the old-aristocratic garb. In Agram the agitation has reached a very alarming degree. – Jellachich is at Szolnok. The following is a reliable fact: He has protested against the separation and splitting up of his corps. He had to do it in order not to jeopardise his extraordinary popularity in the Slav world. The convocation of the Diet is being energetically pressed in Croatia. With that the dictatorship which fell to Jellachich in the summer comes to an end.

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