FROM THE THEATRE OF WAR 

No fresh news at all has arrived from the theatre of war. Only 
from Transylvania do we have two Magyar bulletins today, signed by 
Bem himself, brought by the Debreczin official Kézlény.? 

“1. Hermannstadt Headquarters, March 15. In my dispatch of March 13 I had the 
fortune to declare that I had sent a corps to the Roterturm Pass (V6réstorony) in 
order to sever as far as possible communications with Wallachia. This army corps was 
unable to advance very far, however, since the whole Austrian army was positioned in 
Frek, and thus only separated from the defile by a mountain ridge, and so the flank of 
my advancing troops was threatened. By way of a detour I gained control of this 
defile, however, and I shall not only hold it, but at the same time press the enemy 
towards Kronstadt, from where he would only be able to cross the Carpathians with 
great difficulty, if, that is, he should wish to escape into Wallachia. I shall commence 
these operations of war this very day. 

“Yesterday our troops once again captured a staff officer, Colonel Kopet. The 
names of the two staff officers previously captured are Baron Berger (Lieutenant- 
Colonel) and Teichbert (Major). 

“The capture of Hermannstadt was of inestimable value to us, a great number of 
weapons have fallen to us from all sides, while the vital artery of the enemy has been 
severed.” 

“2. Roterturm (V6r6éstorony) Headquarters, March 16. My operations yesterday 
designed to dislodge the Russians from the Roterturm Pass were crowned by such 
good fortune that we had ejected the Russians from this strong position by 11 o’clock 
the same night. The ‘March 15’, the anniversary of the Liberty of Nations, could not 
have been celebrated in more worthy fashion.!9° Today at 5 o’clock in the afternoon 
the Russians have taken to the wildest headlong flight. Four Austrian generals: 
Puchner, Pfersmann, Graser and Jovich have fled to Wallachia with approximately 3 
companies. I myself have inspected the Roterturm Pass most carefully, and have made 
such arrangements that the Russians will find it hard to penetrate here again with 
hostile intent. I have dispatched another part of my army in pursuit of the Austrians, 
who according to the statements of prisoners of war are demoralised and making for 
Kronstadt in disorder. Their main force is at Fogaras, the rearguard, however, has 

* The following passage is from Kézlény No. 59, March 22, 1849.— Ed. 

just left Frek. The enemy had demolished the bridge over the Olt behind him, which 
hindered the energetic pursuit of him for a time. Now that the bridge has been rebuilt 
I shall continue the pursuit with the utmost vigour. I hope to take Kronstadt within 3 
or 4 days, thereby the imperial Austrian army will be partly destroyed, and partly 
dispersed, and in any case rendered harmless as far as the internal tranquillity of this 
country is concerned. And then the return to obedience of those Wallachian bands 
which still operate in isolation will be so much the easier. 

“ Post scriptum. After taking Kronstadt J shall immediately leave for Hungary with 
an army corps.” 

(As our readers already know, General Bem did not succeed in 
taking Kronstadt.)* 

The extent to which the Pest revolutionaries have been encour- 
aged by the recent gains of the Magyar army may be inferred from 
the following report in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. 

‘Pest, March 30. A secret committee appears to exist here which is in contact with the 
Debreczin revolutionary government. For a large number of printed posters in the 
Hungarian language are daily found in every street, containing partly war bulletins 
from the Debreczin Government, and partly its orders and decrees. By means of such 
posters Bem’s capture of Hermannstadt was already known here on March 22. The 
police have not yet succeeded in tracking down these secret information centres. If one is 
to believe such a poster, countless copies of which were distributed yesterday, then the 
Hungarian Lieutenant-Colonel Gaal stormed and captured the fortress of Arad on March 23. 
But the imperial officer commanding the fortress, Lieutenant-Field Marshal Baron 
Berger, is said to have made good his escape.— The Ban, Master of Ordnance Baron 
Jellachich, is’ ... here. The plan of advancing on Szegedin has been abandoned. The 
theatre of war has shifted back about 40 miles nearer the Austrian border, and thanks to this 
an area of about 300 square miles has been abandoned to the Magyars. The imperial 
army is now altogether restricted to the defensive. Among the officers the conviction is 
also generally expressed that without substantial reinforcements a decisive victory is scarcely 
conceivable.— Yesterday the Jewish community here had to pay a fine of 40,000 
guldens because two local Jews were sentenced for deliveries made to Debrec- 
zin.— Colonel Horvath is advancing on Baja, which the insurgents have occupied with 
4,000 men. His task is to clear the Danube line and to destroy the insurgents’ ships.” 

According to this, Jellachich, after three or four attempts on the 
Theiss, has returned to Pest for the fifth time; and just as he 
previously discovered that the Theiss cannot be crossed at Szolnok 
and marched towards Szegedin, he has now discovered that Szegedin 
cannot be taken. These repeated retreats are the “laurels” of the 
“chivalrous Ban Jellachich”! “Poor Jellachich! Poor Koélnische 
Zeitung’! 

Herr Welden has issued a bloodcurdling proclamation to the 
garrison at Komorn, which has the following positive content after 
many inflated words: 

“Wherefore I grant a further grace of 12 hours so that every man may return to the 
royal imperial flag. Upon the expiry of this grace, however, I shall continue with the 

* See this volume, p. 235.— Ed. 
> There is a blank in the newspaper due to bad printing.— Ed. 

From the Theatre of War 939 

destruction of Komorn so long as I have one trusty soldier and my cannon the 
wherewithal to shoot. God will assist us! Outside Komorn, March 26, 1849.” 

The rumour that the Russians have entered Galicia is emphatically 
contradicted. 

Martial-law reports announce: “We still lack consoling (!!!) news 
from Hungary.” 

Letters from Jassy announce that in Moldavia great preparations 
for some war or other are being made, especially as Russian troops 
in great numbers are arriving from all directions and General 
Paskevich is expected any day now. 

The Neue Oder-Zeitung today prints a document of the erstwhile 
Palatine of Hungary, Archduke Stephan,’*' from which it becomes 
clear that the betrayal of Hungary which is now practically complete 
was contemplated and projected as early as March last year. The 
document reads as follows: 

“Your Majesty, the condition of Hungary is so critical at the moment that the most 
violent eruption can be expected any day. Anarchy reigns in Pest. The authorities 
have been ousted from their spheres of action by committees of public safety, 
and—while the Governor’s Council at least maintains the outward form of its 
authority under the powerful leadership of Count Zichy—the Exchequer has been 
reduced to practically nothing. The nobility” (it appears to be implied from the 
context later on that the rural population is meant, since the nobility has already 
enjoyed rights) “has rebelled in several places in order to win real rights for itself. 

“In this anomalous and dangerous situation every man expects his salvation from 
the impending formation of a responsible government. 

“Even if we regard this plan as a calamity, the question now at issue, however, is 
which is the least calamity? 

“I shall now attempt briefly to adduce the three means by which alone I can stil] 
hope to achieve anything in Hungary. The first means would be to remove the whole 
of the armed forces from the country and abandon it to total devastation; passively to 
observe the destruction and arson, and passively to watch the bitter struggles between 
the nobility and the peasants. 

“The second would be to negotiate with Count Batthyany (who is now the people’s 
only hero;—if we hesitate for long his star too is likely to fade—) concerning the 
proposed legislation, in order to save as much as can still be saved. One must know in 
advance, however, what is to be done if in the event of his dissatisfaction he should 
perhaps resign. 

“Finally, the third means would be to furlough the Palatine immediately and to 
send to Pressburg a Royal Commissioner invested with extraordinary powers and 
accompanied by a considerable military force, who after dissolving the Diet there 
would leave for Pest and there continue to run the government with a strong hand as 
long as conditions demand it. 

“I frankly confess that I myself recoil in horror from the first alternative. It is 
immoral, and it is perhaps also not proper for a government to forsake its subjects 
completely, some of whom at least are well disposed, and to abandon them as victims 

* The proclamation is given in the report “Pressburg, 31. Marz”, Der Lloyd 
No. 157 (evening edition), April 2, 1849, and is dated March 30, 1849.— Ed. 

to all the cruelties of a rebellion (!). Moreover, the example this would set to the 
undisciplined rude masses would produce the most damaging effect in the other 
provinces. 

“The second alternative on the other hand is a good one, and although at first 
glance it has the semblance of separation, yet for the present it is the only means of 
retaining this province, provided that the gentlemen to be newly appointed are 
capable of exercising complete influence over internal developments—which can 
admittedly no longer be claimed with complete certainty in advance. With the coming 
of more propitious times much may be organised differently which might cause a 
separation at present. I am not certain that one might not achieve something by way of 
proper negotiations through Batthyany and Deak—but solely through them — for if 
they deliberate in Pressburg !%3 everything is to be feared. At this juncture, however, I 
must, as a faithful servant of the state, make so free as to draw Your Majesty’s 
attention to a circumstance of the greatest significance: what will happen if in the 
event of unsuccessful negotiations Batthyany should hazard everything and be ready 
to resign? 

“Here I consider it my duty not to exaggerate but to observe in accordance with the 
truth that one must be prepared for this eventuality in order to be able to meet with 
armed force the demonstrations along the Danube and on the road from Pressburg to 
Vienna which will certainly be instigated by the youth of Pressburg and a section of the 
nobility. In this case the third alternative would remain, provided that neither the will 
nor the possibility of its employment were lacking. This third means would have to be 
used with great dispatch. Four questions arise in this connection, however: 

‘‘a) is there sufficient money available? That is, is it not impossible to send a fairly 
large military force, by which I understand at least 40,000 to 50,000 men, to Hungary? 

ig 

‘‘b) is this force available and able to be concentrated quickly? Is, further, 

“c) a Royal Commissioner available who is both willing and fitted to take over this 
task? Finally, however, 

“‘d) is there also no doubt that this means is sufficient for achieving the end desired? 
And whether later in the winter an accommodation will not be brought about, and 
whether the other hereditary provinces will remain tranquil upon perceiving this? Will 
one not need a substantial military force in Galicia and in Italy? 

“If to all these questions, which I am unable to judge from my own position, a 
favourable answer can be given according to which the execution of the plan is 
possible without illusions and without, for instance, calculations which perhaps later 
prove to be incorrect, then I have no further comment to add against its being carried 
out, provided that the settlement with Count Batthydny is attempted, and in addition 
that the dignitaries of the country, who have to be summoned in any case, are asked. 

“I frankly confess that in the present state of affairs I must pronounce myself to be 
for the second alternative, and I do not doubt that the dignitaries of the 
country —although I have not yet spoken with them —are of the same opinion. I have 
definite knowledge only of the opinion of Supreme Judge of the country Mailath. 

“If, however, Your Majesty in Your wisdom should consider the first or the third 
means to be more to the purpose, then Your Supreme Highness will without doubt 
command me in accordance with the prevailing laws and customary practice as to 
whether for the time being I shall remain in Vienna in this event or whether I ought to 
travel elsewhere. 

Your Majesty’s most faithfully obedient subject, 

a 
Vienna, March 24, 1848.” Stephan m. p. 

* Manu propria—with one’s own hand.— Ed. 

From the Theatre of War 241 

We refrain from all further discussion of this document, which is 
self-revealing indeed. In the margin of the original document there 
are comments by Archduke Stephan in his own hand and a dispatch 
note: “Stephanus 23 March 1848” and “Kiads Marcz 24én 1848” 
(i.e. dispatched on March 24, 1848). 

We have found the following additional information in the papers 
which have arrived this morning: 

The village of Aszod, four miles from Pest on the road to 
Hatvan, was captured by the Magyars. They had already left it again 
the following day, however, in order to advance further in the 
direction of Neograd and the Waag. The Slovakian guerillas have 
once again been so encouraged by Gorgey’s sudden appearance on 
the Eipel that they are ranging as far as the Moravian border. 

Gotz and Jablonowsky are in Waitzen. The report that they had 
held Eperies and Kaschau against Gorgey was therefore untrue. The 
whole of the Zips, and indeed the whole of Upper Hungary, are thus 
once more in the hands of the Magyars, and the imperial forces now 
occupy only the western and southern borders, also the land between 
the Danube and the Drava and the immediate environs of Pest. 

“Ban Jellachich,” states the Pest Observer (Figyelmezé), “is not only a hero, but also 
an astute diplomatist. He caused a sensation in Kecskemét. He summoned the Gipsy 
bands of K6rés and Kecskemét, marched through the town to the accompaniment of 
the most genuine Hungarian melodies, and has so enthused the whole population 
with his Magyar conduct that they declared: ‘Even if he were to land us in the middle 
of the Theiss, we should follow him!!’””* 

Ban Jellachich is daily revealing himself as more of a buffoon and 
a Don Quixote. 

The Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung reports the following fact, which 
may once again serve as proof of the genuinely revolutionary 
character of the Hungarian war: 

“While the young Count Esterhazy holds a command in the fortress of Komorn and 
will probably be executed for high treason should this be taken, the old Count 
Esterhazy, the young Count’s father, has just presented 160 casks of wine to the siege 
troops as encouragement for them to storm the fortress!”