March
122. Speech from the Throne
March
Cologne, February 28. The speech from the throne which to the great indignation and annoyance of the Kölnische Zeitung was
reported prematurely yesterday evening to the readers of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, proved to be authentic. Only a single passage, the one relating to the state of siege in Berlin, was altered overnight. In so doing the Brandenburg Ministry destroyed the whole point of its speech.
This passage, as reported by us yesterday evening in its original form, reads:
"To restore the rule of law, a state of siege had to be proclaimed in the capital and its immediate environs. This cannot be lifted until such time as public safety, which is still threatened and for which this measure was essential, is durably safeguarded by firm laws. The drafts of these laws will be presented to you without delay."
This passage, even though it was hushed up, gives away the whole secret of the speech from the throne. In plain language it means: the exceptional states of siege will be lifted as soon as the general state of siege has been imposed on the entire kingdom by laws and has become part of our constitutional customs. The series of these "firm" laws will begin with September legislation[361] on associations and the press.(1)
[Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 235, March 2, 1849]
Cologne, March 1. Let us first of all note that the speech from the throne has the full approval of the Kölnische Zeitung. The paper raises a few objections about the actions of the Government mentioned in the speech from the throne, but none at all about the speech itself.
"The King's speech from the throne is truly a constitutional speech from the throne"—
thus the sagacious newspaper begins its reprint of the speech from the throne in a paraphrasing leading-article form.[3]
"A constitutional speech from the throne"! Of course, to anyone who had expected a "speech directly from the King's heart", an importunate moralising outpouring of the heart such as used to occur in the United Diet, or a Brandenburg-Wrangel type of rodomontade with clinking of spurs and twirling of moustaches, this document must seem extremely "constitutional".
One thing is certain: Manteuffel coped with his task far better than Camphausen by completely leaving out the "talented declamation" of 1847.[362] The bourgeois Minister presented a document of bourgeois-like dullness, limping and boring in language and content. With the greatest bonhomie, the Minister from the nobility submits to using the boring constitutional form in order by its means in fluent, easy language to scoff at the Chambers and all constitutionalism.
As for the serious content of the speech from the throne, this is reduced to practically nothing owing to the hushing up of the passage about the retention of the state of siege, which we mentioned yesterday. This was the only passage in which the Ministry spoke to the Chambers honestly and frankly.
One would have to be the Kölnische Zeitung or the Berlin National-Zeitung to take the rest of the speech from the throne seriously. One who only with respectful awe and solemn mien ventures to observe such constitutional supreme state functions as were performed the day before yesterday in Berlin.will, of course, in his innocence never be able to understand how something so holy can be misused in frivolous wit. But anyone who attaches as little importance to the whole constitutional comedy as Herr Manteuffel does will not be so lacking in taste as to take au sérieux the document which the Minister caused to be delivered the day before yesterday to the reverential public of the White Hall[363] through the lips of the King by the grace of God.
We believe we shall be doing Herr Manteuffel a service if we point out the correct meaning of his speech from the throne to the German public, which unfortunately is not accustomed to witty sallies.
You expect Manteuffel to boast of his successfully accomplished counter-revolution, to threaten the Chambers with loaded rifles, razor-sharp swords etc., in the manner of a clumsy sergeant-major à la Wrangel. Nothing of the kind! Manteuffel passes over all this with only a few lightly uttered phrases, as if it were something quite self-evident.
"The events that are fresh in the memory of all of you, gentlemen deputies of the First and Second Chambers, compelled me in December of last year to dissolve the Assembly which had been convened to reach agreement on the Constitution. At the same time — being convinced of the absolute necessity of finally restoring a firmly based state of public law — I gave the country a Constitution, the content of which faithfully fulfils the promises I made in March of last year."
Herr Manteuffel speaks as if it were a question of some most insignificant trifle — the replacement of an old frock-coat by a new one, the appointment of a supernumerary official or the arrest of an agitator. Forcible transference, adjournment and dissolution of a sovereign assembly, state of siege, a sabre-rule — in short, the whole coup d'état — is reduced to "events that are fresh in the memory of all of you". In exactly the same way as the knightly Ban Jellachich would relate with the most elegant insouciance how his red-coats had burned alive the inhabitants of some village or other.
And now you have the "faithful fulfilment of the promises I made in March of last year" in the form of the imposed so-called Constitution. And do you consider cunning Manteuffel to be so limited in intelligence as to have said that in all seriousness? Allons donc!*
Such a beginning is striking. But one must be able to make use of this initial astonishment in order to pass on to still more astonishing things. Herr Manteuffel can do that:
"Since then the tension under which a great part of the country was living a few months ago has given way to a calmer mood; confidence, which previously had been so deeply shaken, is gradually being restored, trade and industry are beginning to recover from the stagnation to which they threatened to succumb."
What glances the worthy deputies have exchanged when they heard those words! Trade and industry are recovering! And why not? Why should not this same Manteuffel who can impose a Constitution be able to impose also an upswing in "trade and industry"? The aplomb with which Manteuffel utters this colossal assertion is truly remarkable. Mais nous marchons de surprise en surprise[3]:
"You know, gentlemen, that I have reserved for you the right to revise the Constitution. It is for you now to come to an agreement on this among yourselves and with my Government."
Of course, gentlemen, "come to an agreement"! But the humour of the situation lies precisely in the fact that two such Chambers as Manteuffel imposed on "My people" can never "come to an agreement among themselves"! Otherwise why was the First Chamber invented? And if, gentlemen, you were even to come to an agreement among yourselves, which is by no means to be expected, you would then have to come to an agreement with "My Government"— and that you will never arrive at, Manteuffel can guarantee!
And so, gentlemen deputies of the First and Second Chambers, you are already sufficiently busy revising the Constitution. Since "I" have learnt from experience that an agreement between two agents is already impossible, "I" considered it expedient on this occasion to try to achieve an agreement between three factors which admit of no agreement. And if you do not go on trying to come to an agreement until doomsday without getting one inch farther forward, Manteuffel will pledge himself to become a contributor to the National-Zeitung.
Therefore, gentlemen, "come to an agreement"!
If, however, contrary to all human expectation, you after all succeed in solving what for decency's sake can only be called your task, you will still not be a single step farther forward. To meet such a case "My Government" has issued a dozen laws "for implementing the Constitution", which strip this Constitution of the last semblance of liberalism. Among other things, they include two decrees on trade corporations[365] which are worthy of the year 1500, and which can give such an advantageously combined representative institution as you are work that will make your head ache for ten years.
"All these decrees will be presented to you without delay for your approval."
Therefore, gentlemen, "approve" them! But then "My Government" will without delay put before you proposals concerning the state of siege — September laws, gagging laws,[366] laws for suppression of clubs etc. And until you "have approved" them — and it is to be hoped that this will never happen — the state of siege will, of course, continue.
And do you think that with that your work will have been accomplished? On the contrary, the most important thing only comes now:
"In addition you will have to undertake a discussion of various laws, which are in part essential for implementing the Constitution and the drafts of which will gradually be put before you. I particularly recommend for your most careful consideration the drafts for the new local government system and for the new district, regional and provincial systems, the law on education, the law on church administration, the law on income tax, the law on land taxation, the law on redemption from corvée obligations, and on the abolition without compensation of some of them, and also on the establishment of annuity offices."
With these different occupations, gentlemen, which altogether amount to about three dozen organic laws containing several thousand paragraphs, you will have, God willing, so much to do that the revision of the Constitution as well as the approval of the preliminary laws, and the discussion of drafts laid before you will be at most half fulfilled. If you manage to do even that much you will have accomplished a superhuman labour. In the meantime the state of siege will continue everywhere and will also be introduced where it does not yet exist (who is to prevent us from putting the whole of Prussia in a state of siege "district by district"?); in the meantime the imposed so-called Constitution with the imposed additional laws will continue in force. Consequently there will remain the hitherto existing botched local government system, the existing district, regional and provincial system of representation, the existing absence of freedom of education, the exemption of the higher nobility from land taxation, and the corvée obligations of the peasants.
In order, however, that you will not be able to complain, there will be laid before you, in addition to all these unfulfillable tasks, two budgets— for 1849 and for 1850. Will you rise from your seats in indignation at so much work? So much the better, gentlemen deputies of the First and Second Chambers. In that case, on the basis of the imposed so-called Constitution "My Government" will continue to levy the hitherto existing taxes for all eternity. In addition, there is still some money left of the 25 million voted by the United Diet, and if "My Government" should need more, it will know what it has to do.
But should you wish to follow in the footsteps of the dissolved National Assembly, then, gentlemen, I will remind you that the "organisation, fighting capacity and loyalty" of the Prussian army "have withstood the severest tests"—especially in the great drive against the agreers in November of last year.
And now, gentlemen deputies of the First and Second Chambers, after steps have been taken to ensure that, because of the composition of the two Chambers, you will not be able to reach agreement among yourselves, and because of the composition of "My Government" you will not be able to reach agreement with this Government, after such a disorderly mass of materials has been laid before you that, apart from anything else, you will never be able to complete even the tiniest part of it, and after in this way the preservation of the bureaucratic-feudal-military despotism has been guaranteed — now take note of what the fatherland expects of you:
"Gentlemen deputies of the First and Second Chambers! The fatherland now confidendy expects from the co-operation of its representatives with My Government the consolidation of the re-established legal order so as to be able to enjoy constitutional liberties and their peaceful development. The protection of these liberties and of legal order — these two fundamental conditions of public welfare — will always be the object of My conscientious care. In this work I count on your assistance. May your activity, with God's help, serve to exalt the honour and glory of Prussia, whose people, in close union with their princes, have already successfully overcome many hard times, and may it prepare for the fatherland in both the narrower and the broader sense a peaceful and blessed future!"
That is the speech from the throne of Citizen Manteuffel. And there are people who are so greatly lacking in taste that they call such a skilful comedy a "constitutional speech from the throne"!
Truly, if anything could prompt Herr Manteuffel to surrender his portfolio, it would be such a misinterpretation of his best intentions!
123. From the Theatre of War in Transylvania and Hungary
There is still no up-to-date news from the theatre of war. What we learn consists almost entirely of further details about events which are already known.
On the upper reaches of the Theiss the Magyars occupy both sides of the river. Through Görgey's daring manoeuvre—"carried out with a degree of dexterity not expected of him" (Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen)—the entire country to the east of the Theiss and Hernath has been cleared of the enemy. Through the simultaneous advance of Dembinski across the Theiss the imperial troops have been thrown back along their whole left wing and centre and only below Szolnok they are still at the Theiss. So when the Austrian newspapers report that Schlick "has joined the main army" or that he "has reached the head of the main army" that means no more than that the remains of the 4 brigades he commands have been thrown back onto Windischgrätz's troops instead of securing the left wing.
Profiting by this opportunity, as the Magyar correspondent of the Breslauer Zeitung reports,
"the major part of the Polish regiment of Rothkirch has gone over to the Hungarians and entered Debreczin in triumph. Among the prisoners there are also two generals. The comitats of Zips, Sâros, Abaujvâr, Zemplin, Unghvar and Heves are thus, due to the complete defeat and expulsion of the imperial troops, again under the control of the Hungarians".
The Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen confirms in two reports of the 20th from Pest that Gorgey has joined up with the main Magyar army and that this army "has again taken up a threatening position" and "seems to be decided to give battle".
i6-37 B 0 The above-mentioned Magyar correspondent goes on to report:
"From Kaschau many refugees have arrived in Pest. Count Szirmay, one of the richest Hungarian magnates, has been killed by the enraged people in the most gruesome manner. He had caused himself to be hated because it was due to his betrayal that Schlick entered Kaschau. He had also attempted to raise a volunteer battalion for the imperial army. He was a major in the imperial army."
How precarious the situation on the left wing is for the Austrians is demonstrated by the regular dispatches of reinforcements there. Nearly every day Ban Jellachich inspects in Pest new troops leaving for there. The Magyar correspondent in a report on the 22nd says:
"On the 20th a brigade with a large quantity of artillery left Pest in the direction of Hatvan. It consisted mostly of Croats. Ban Lieutenant-Field Marshal Jellachich held a review of the brigade and delivered an address to it. The public which attended looked on unmoved. Then a general came rushing up and shouted, 'Off with your hats when the Emperor is acclaimed!' The public turned about as one man and left. From that too you can judge of the mood, which is getting more bitter every day."
The reinforcements which Görgey brought to the main Magyar army consist according to the Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen of 9,000 men, including 1 battalion of grenadiers, 1 battalion of Este infantry, 2 battalions of Wasa, 8 divisions (16 squadrons) of hussars, 30 cannon and 12 howitzers. That these figures underestimate rather than overestimate the truth may be concluded from the sentiments of the paper from which they were taken.
At Windischgrätz's centre and right wing little has changed. Szolnok on the Theiss is still in the hands of the Austrians while the Magyars hold the opposite bank. While the former build entrench-ments at Szolnok, both sides shoot at each other with cannon across the Danube.
Szegedin, lower down on the Theiss, which has been reported three or four times as captured by the Austrians, has according to today's reports been taken yet again. This time however by troops dispatched from Pest, which had joined up near Szegedin with the Serbs approaching from the south to seize this important point dominating the confluence of the Maros with the Theiss. Se non è
vero, è ben trovato*
On the other hand the Austrian correspondent reports from a private letter that
"shortly after its capture Arad was wrested from the imperial troops, some of the latter having dispersed too quickly into the houses of the town to look for food, and
"* It's well devised even if it is not true.— Ed.
the insurgents availed themselves of this circumstance to assemble rapidly and drive back our troops. The commanders are said not to have been to blame, as they could not prevent the totally exhausted troops, allegedly Serbs and men from Peterwardein, from seeking food".
The heroic deeds of the Serbian army stationed here consist mainly in destroying and burning, looting, torturing with fire, killing and raping. The places around Szegedin, as well as Maria-Theresienstadt, Zombor and other places have been treated most disgustingly by these Turkish barbarians and have been almost destroyed. One need only hear what the pro-Czech Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen says:
"In the Banat the Serbs are advancing victoriously, but robbery and arson mark their passage and many Hungarian and German localities have had to pay a terrible price for daring to show sympathy for the cause of the Hungarians. Zombor, an important trading city, has been partly consumed by flames, as the Serbs set fire to all houses whose owners had earlier taken part in enforcing the martial law applied against the Serbs by the Hungarians.
"Yesterday and today there is general talk here that the Serbs have finally succeeded in taking Szegedin, and in that case we can only commiserate with the manv Hungarians who live there, for the Serbs will hardly treat them with lenience."
Further back, on the Drava and Danube, the army of Nugent is concentrated around Peterwardein, the surrender of which is "to be hoped for", to use the language of an earlier bulletin. His army too is distinguishing itself by the most shameful barbarities. The inhabitants of Siklosz are said to have shot at the Imperials after they had previously welcomed them with open arms. What does Nugent do? He immediately surrounds the town, trains cannon loaded with shrapnel on all the gates and sets the place on fire. Whoever escaped from the flames fell victim to the shrapnel. The Kölnische Zeitung finds this "strange".
To sum up all these operations we must agree with the following judgment borrowed from the Leipziger Zeitung:
"Military experts assure us that in the operations in Hungary significant mistakes have been committed and that Prince Windischgrätz failed to reveal himself as an outstanding army commander."
A conclusion to which we had already been led almost every day for a long time.
Finally we have now from Transylvania the reports of the local papers on the entry of the Russians. In Kronstadt this event was preceded by a declaration of martial law. From this town the Satellit of February 2 reports:
"In order to prevent the threatened attack on Kronstadt by the Szeklers, yesterday and today strong contingents of Cossacks, Russian riflemen, grenadiers and a whole
/6** artillery park with the necessary personnel under the command of the imperial Russian General von Engelhardt have entered Kronstadt and been quartered on the population. Tomorrow a further battalion of Russian infantry is expected. The cannon have been installed between the Promenade and the Schlossberg and adequately supplied for immediate action. Day and night they are guarded by a strong contingent of Cossacks and grenadiers, while Russian riflemen guard the fortifica-tions."
Further, dated February 6, a report on the fighting between Engelhardt and the Szeklers:
"February 4 was a hot day for our district. Early in the morning the Russian Major-General Engelhardt went on reconnaissance towards Honigberg with a battalion of Russian infantry, 170 Cossacks, two pieces of field artillery and three companies from the 1st Rumanian Border Regiment. Halfway there he noticed numerous Szekler groups moving through the mist towards Petersberg, probably in order to attack Kronstadt from there. The Russians advanced against them and the Szeklers opened cannon-fire. As the enemy was numerically superior the Russian general sent immediately into the town for his remaining troops. They arrived with 84 Austrian dragoons and 45 hussars after more than two hours during which Engelhardt engaged the Szeklers with attacks by the Cossacks, skirmishes and cannon-fire. Then General Engelhardt attacked the four times (!) stronger (!) enemy in earnest, drove him from the heights between Petersberg and Honigberg and after five and a half hours of fighting forced him to retreat. On the Russian side 1 officer and 2 privates were killed, on the Austrian side 1 officer and 3 privates (2,400 Russians and about 500 Austrians were involved in the fighting). The enemy suffered 150 casualties in killed and wounded and fled leaving cannon, weapons, munitions etc. behind."
Kronstadt (Siebenbürger Wochenblatt).[3] The following proclamation to the citizens of Kronstadt was made by the Russian general.
"To the citizens of Kronstadt. Some evil-minded Kronstadt citizens have spread the false rumour that I had quarrelled with the royal imperial Austrian General von Schurter and that I had intended to leave the town with my troops! I have on the contrary found a good comrade in Herr General von Schurter and shall continue to esteem and honour him as such. If I have sent back my baggage-carts to Wallachia that has been done simply and solely in the interest of the local inhabitants as it would have been difficult for them to find forage for the 700 uhlans who are arriving today as well as for the teams of horses of the baggage-carts. The entire contents of the baggage-carts, consisting of biscuits, remain in the town and only the empty carts were dispatched. This false rumour is therefore an infamous and stupid lie; even if I myself were not in accord with General von Schurter I would nevertheless remain here for the protection of this city, for that is the All-highest will of my Emperor and Lord.(1)
"Kronstadt, January 29 (February 10), 1849
Major-General von Engelhardt"
% The reports from this newspaper cited here and below were also published in the Grazer Zeitung No. 56, February 25, 1849.—Ed.
Kronstadt, February 10. The expected Russian uhlans arrived here yesterday afternoon. The Szeklers, whom the imperial Russian General von Engelhardt taught a lesson (!) on the 4th inst., have nevertheless again crossed the River Alt near Hidveg and have entered Marienburg. From there they yesterday again molested the community of Heldsdorf and requisitioned a quantity of bread, hay and oats (Siebenbürger Wochenblatt).
Written by Engels on March 1, 1849
124. European War Inevitable
Cologne, March 2. The second sitting of the Second Chamber has produced two not uninteresting results: firstly, that the Right has so far been 21 votes stronger than the Left, not ten as we were informed yesterday; and secondly, the official announcement of the termination of the armistice of Ma/raö.[368] The latter event naturally leads to a thousand-and-one diplomatic speculations. Thus, the Russian Cabinet is said to have concluded conditionally a mutual defensive and offensive alliance with Denmark; a Russian courier is said to have brought to Berlin the order to resist all possible demands of the Chamber absolutely etc. We shall report tomorrow what is substan-tiated of these rumours.
We learn from Italy: in Turin Gioberti is definitely dismissed and Chiodo definitely Prime Minister. The Chamber has sanctioned the change of ministry and in agreement with the Ministers has decided on the immediate resumption of the war against Austria.[369] The Austrian expedition to Ferrara gives ample cause for this.
In Tuscany it seems that Laugier's attempt at reaction is failing completely.[3] ° The Grand Duke,a despairing of his luck, is said to have set sail to his Holy Father0 in Gaeta.
Apart from the alleged retreat of the Austrians from Ferrara (already reported yesterday by the Wiener Zeitung) there is nothing new from the Roman Republic.
According to the Moniteur du soir, Sicily has proclaimed a republic.[371] Favourable news beyond all expectation has reached us from Hungary. According to imperial as well as Magyar reports the Magyars have reached Hatvan, three stages from Pest. This victorious advance is the first result of Görgey's collaboration with the main Magyar army. The Austrians are sending all their troops post-haste towards Hatvan. In a few days a decisive battle will be fought there.[372]
This is the condensed content of the news which arrived this evening. War in Denmark, war in Italy, and more war than ever in Hungary — involvements every one of which would suffice in these times, calamitous for all the existing powers, to engender a European war. That war will come, it must come. It will divide Europe into two armed camps, not according to nations or national sympathies, but according to the level of civilisation. On the one side the revolution, on the other the coalition of all outmoded estate-classes and interests; on the one side civilisation, on the other barbarism. The victory may be tardy but it cannot be in doubt.
Written by Engels on March 2, 1849
125. From the Theatre of War
How things stand with the imperial cause emerges from the silence of the official reports better than from any other circumstance. Tonight, it is true, we have not received our Vienna letters and newspapers, but the Berlin evening papers, which customarily bring the news from Vienna at the same time as the Wiener Zeitung, do not contain anything either. Profound silence from the otherwise so talkative Vienna commandant's office on the operations on the Theiss, the Maros and in Transylvania.
Unofficial reports make up for this. The pro-Austrian reports from Vienna and the Magyar report in the Breslauer Zeitung from Hungary agree on one fact: the Magyar army stands at Hatvan, six miles from Pest, where a decisive battle is in preparation.
Some say: the insurgents have been driven back into this area by Schlick, Schulzig and Götz; others maintain: the victorious Magyars have advanced into this area.
Who is right? A glance at the map decides the question. According to the latest news, Görgey marched from Kaschau down along the Hernath so as to join up with Dembinski. Dembinski on his part crossed the Theiss below the Hernath estuary and advanced in a north-westerly direction through Miskolcz. As a result the left wing (Schlick, Schulzig and Götz, who has been driven into the Upper Carpathians) was threatened at its communications with the main army and attacked simultaneously byaDembinski on the right and by Görgey on the left flank. The Schlick-Schulzig corps therefore withdrew at once from Torna to Rimaszombat. According to the latest (royal imperial official) news, the two armies confronted each other at Rimaszombat.
Now we suddenly find the whole position completely changed. The Magyars have gone from Rimaszombat, over twenty miles from Pest, to Hatvan, six miles from Pest, and a decisive battle is expected there.
If Schlick had beaten the Magyars their line of retreat would not have been to the Danube, where they would have encountered the centre of the enemy army, but to the Theiss and Hernath, where the entire region is in Magyar hands. But if the Magyars retained the upper hand they could not advance from their positions on the Upper Theiss and Hernath in order to reach Pest in any other direction than that of Hatvan. For the way from Kaschau to Pest leads in a straight line through Rimaszombat and Hatvan! The roads from Miskolcz to Pest and from Polgâr and Tiszafüred (the two crossing points of the main Magyar army over the Theiss) to Pest also lead through Hatvan!
If then, as the Vienna reports say,
"the insurgents under Görgey and Dembinski, pursued by Generals Schlick, Schulzig and Götz, have been driven into the area of Hatvan",
they have been pressed to the very point to which they would anyway have had to get as victors, the point on which all the various Magyar corps marching upon Pest would converge.
Hence: either the Austrian generals are such dolts that their victories lead the enemy to exactly the same result as their defeats, that they render a better service to their enemies when they defeat them than when they let themselves be defeated by them, or the imperial reports have once again lied brazenly.
That the latter is the case — although we do not wish thereby in the least to diminish the clumsiness of the royal imperial generals — that yet another attempt has been made to cover up a shameful defeat by pompous assertions of victory, is proved by the concluding sentence:
"It is to be expected, therefore, that in the next few days a major blow will be struck against them [the insurgents]." (1)
There is at Hatvan either only one Magyar corps or a whole army. In the first case one cannot speak of a "major blow"; in the second case it will hardly be credited that the three corps of the royal imperial left wing, which could not even cope with Görgey alone, have defeated and "pursued" an entire army of which Görgey's troops form only a small part.
And even if the main Hungarian army had been "driven" to Hatvan, would it wait there until the entire army of Windischgrätz had come to the aid of the "pressing" Austrian corps so as to strike a "major blow", or would it march back as fast as possible to the Theiss, hindered by nobody since its rear is completely free?
It is as clear as daylight: since Görgey joined the main Magyar army the Austrians have been driven back at all points of their left wing and centre. Where Schlick and his associates are roaming, nobody tells us.
The present position of the Magyars, north-east of Pest, speaks, however, more clearly than all reports. For the Magyars to be able to march from Rimaszombat to Hatvan, Schlick had first to be rendered harmless, that is chased ten miles further back to the Slovak mountain towns, where, separated from the main army by the Danube bend, he stands quite isolated and powerless. Then, the vanguard of the main royal imperial army, even the main army itself, had to be thrown back five to seven miles further; for it is not long since Windischgrätz occupied all the country as far as Erlau, in which town he actually wanted to set up his headquarters! And both these events must have taken place, otherwise how did a Magyar army get within six miles of Pest?
Until more accurate reports come in we shall hardly have any alternative but to give credence to the Magyar "exaggeration" of the Breslauer Zeitung, evidently written in Pest, the more so because this "exaggeration" bears all the internal and external marks of the greatest truthfulness. It reports that the Magyars standing at Hatvan belong to the Hungarian northern army. (Görgey, who, moreover, has evidently been reinforced by a corps of the Theiss army.) It says:
"As on January 27, when the Hungarian Theiss army twice beat the imperial army at Szolnok and at Czegléd, so also now in Pest everything is being evacuated and prepared for a retreat, following the repeated victories of the northern army over the imperial Lieutenant-Field Marshal Count Schlick. All military offices, regimental stores etc. have been forwarded to Raab since the day before yesterday. The victorious Hungarian northern army, which can shake hands with the Hungarian Theiss army, according to the unanimous statements of travellers, yesterday set up its outposts three stages from Pest, that is in Hatvan. It is commanded by the Polish General Klapka and the excellent Hungarian General Görgey, both of whom are, however, under the supreme command of Dembinski. As on January 27, a proclamation was also issued yesterday, signed by Commander Count Wrbna, informing the inhabitants of both towns[3] that the rebels were threatening to advance on Pest, and so part of the garrison had gone to meet the enemy. The inhabitants were therefore particularly warned to keep calm, since at any attempt at an insurrection the Ofen fortress would at once begin a bombardment. In Pest a great battle is expected in the next few days.
a battle in the neighbourhood of Pest. The Komorn garrison has driven out the imperial forces from Old Szony."
Moreover, Kossuth has recently given very palpable proof that he is in no mind to tolerate the Austrians behaving like veritable barbarians in that part of the country which for strategic reasons he must abandon. He has used the only means which helps in such cases: to retaliate measure for measure. The Magyar correspondent (Breslauer Zeitung) writes:
"In Debreczin, the imperial Colonel Fligely is said likewise to have been shot in reprisal for the shooting in Ofen, contrary to all international law, of the Hungarian Major Spoil.—From an Austrian officer we learnt at the same time that Windischgratz has received a letter of the Hungarian Government, according to which reprisals will immediately follow any repetition of the execution of Hungarian prisoners. The 73 imperial staff officers who are held prisoners in Debreczin have also sent a letter to Windischgratz in which they implore him to refrain from further action against Hungarian prisoners of war so as to spare their own lives. On this occasion we were given the names of five imperial generals who are prisoners in Debreczin. These two letters have had more effect on Windischgratz than all the German addresses and interpellations in connection with the execution of Blum, and since then no executions at all have taken place in Ofen; however, it must be noted that the sentences have also been postponed, probably to a more favourable time. Yesterday a number of ladies of high rank were arrested in Pest. The Hungarian women yield nothing to the Polish women in patriotic enthusiasm and sacrifice."
From the other sectors of the theatre of war we have only very scanty Austrian news. In the south-west the royal imperial General Dietrich entered Sexard (Tolna comitat) on the 14th, drove out Kossuth's hussars and arrived in Pest on the 19th. So, here too, on the right bank of the Danube, there are still Kossuth's hussars and they are even holding towns!
A correspondent of the Allgemeine Oder-Zeitung reports from Transylvania that Bern, whom the imperial bulletins have already reported to be either dead or a prisoner, has repulsed Herr Puchner in the Banat, whither the latter had pursued him, has marched to
Klausenburg, where he won over a large number of Hungarian and Szekler groups, and has again taken the offensive against the united Austrians and Russians in the Saxon region.[373] We shall leave open for the time being the question of how much truth there is in this report. In part it is, however, confirmed by the report of the Grazer
Zeitung from Temesvâr that the insurgent troops, pressed into Transylvania, have again tried to enter the Banat at Facset-Lugos and that the imperial troops were thereby forced to leave Arad in great haste so as not to be cut off.(2) These reports. prove how correctly we have understood the position of the warring parties. A decisive victory over the imperial army before Pest, the outbreak of war in Italy, and Austria will fall to pieces in spite of all Russian interventions!
Written by Engels on March 2, 1849
126. Lassalle
Cologne, March 3. People still remember the notorious case where an unfortunate girl was brought before the assize court on a charge of infanticide. The jury acquitted her. Later on, she was brought before a police court for concealment of pregnancy. Amid the general laughter of the public, the Court's decision to prosecute was quashed.
The Düsseldorf Court is following in the footsteps of its illustrious predecessor.
By a decision of the Düsseldorf Court dated February 22, Lassalle, Cantador and Weyers were committed to the assize court, charged with making inflammatory speeches. We have no objection to that. But by a decision of the same Court, Lassalle is a second time being brought before a police court on the grounds that in a speech at Neuss[34]"[7] he is alleged to have called for "violent resistance to officials'" (a crime under Articles 209, 217).[375]
Let us, first of all, establish the facts. Among the circumstances adduced as motives for Lassalle's committal to the assize court is this same speech at Neuss. The Court alleges that in this speech he "called for arming against the state power" (a crime under Articles 87, 91, 102).
On the basis of one and the same speech, therefore, Lassalle is brought on one occasion before the assize court, and on a second occasion before the police court. If the jury acquits him, he will be convicted by the police court. And if the police court does not convict him, in any case he will remain in custody on remand until the police court acquits him. Whatever the verdict of the jury, Lassalle will continue to be deprived of his freedom, and the Prussian state is saved.
We repeat: it is on the basis of one and the same speech that Lassalle is committed by the Düsseldorf Court first to the assize court and secondly to the police court. It is the same fact in each case.
Furthermore, apart from that. If in a speech I "call for arming against the state power", is it not self-evident that I am calling for "violent resistance to officials"? The existence of the state power is embodied precisely in its officials, the army, the administration and the courts. Apart from this, its physical embodiment, it is but a shadow, an idea, a name. The overthrow of the Government is impossible without violent resistance to its officials. If in a speech I call for revolution, it is superfluous to add: "offer violent resistance to the officials". According to the procedure of the Düsseldorf Court, everyone without exception who is committed to the assizes under Articles 87 and 102 on a charge of incitement to overthrow the Government can subsequently be brought before the police court under Articles 209 and 217.
And is there not in the Code d'instruction criminelle[376] an article which states:
"Toute personne acquittée légalement ne pourra plus être reprise ni accusée à raison du même délit"?
In translation:
"No one who is legally acquitted can again be taken in charge or accused on the basis of the same offence."
But it makes no difference to the actual state of affairs whether after I have been acquitted by the jury I am subsequently brought before the police court for the same offence, or whether the verdict of the jury is annulled in advance by my being first of all 1) committed for trial before the assize court and 2) brought before the police court for the same offence.
We ask the Düsseldorf Court whether its patriotic zeal has not clouded its legal acumen. We ask Examining Magistrate Ebermeier whether he is entirely free from personal enmity towards Lassalle. We ask, finally, a certain official of the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor's office whether he did not declare: "The acquittal of Cantador and Weyers is of no great concern to us, but we must in any case hold Lassalle."
We doubt whether Lassalle has the same desire to be listed for an incredibly long period in the inventory of "subjects of the state" par excellence.
The Lassalle case is important for us not only because it concerns the liberty and rights of a fellow-citizen, one of our party friends. It is above all important because the issue is whether the exclusive competence of the assize court for political offences will or will not suffer the same fate as all the so-called March gains, whether the salaried lawyers will be able at their discretion to degrade the assize court with its unpaid jury to the mere semblance of a court of justice, in the event of some fact not being recognised by the jury as a political crime or offence, by immediately referring the same fact to the judgment of a police court as an ordinary offence. Why in general have these crimes and offences been withdrawn from the competence of ordinary courts and referred to the assize court? Obviously it has been presumed that, in spite of the honour and sensitivity of the salaried judges, in political trials they represent anything but the interests of the accused.
We shall take up this subject again.(1)
Written by Marx on March 3, 1849
127. The War in Hungary
Cologne, March 3. Today's news from the Hungarian theatre of war is limited to a confirmation and partial elaboration of yesterday's. It is said, indeed, to be Dembinski himself who stands at Hatvan, while two French generals stand a few miles further back at Gyöngyös with a Magyar corps. The magnitude of the danger is shown by the continuing dispatches of troops from Pest to the Theiss.
According to other, also imperial, reports of the 25th from Pest, Windischgrätz has set up his headquarters in Gödöllö, almost halfway between Pest and Hatvan, and his vanguard under General Zeisberg is already back in Gyöngyös.
"The rebels," it is said, "are retreating as before at Szolnok, but this time they will hardly escape without bloodshed, since General Götz is operating from the mountain towns, and Lieutenant-Field Marshal Schlick has again taken the offensive, so there is joint action from all sides."
Here we learn various new things. First, the great military commander Götz, whom we had lost-sight of on the Galician border after his defeat by Görgey high up in the Carpathian Mountains, reappears. He reappears — in the mountain towns, fifteen to twenty miles south-west of his last position. So, during the week he was lost, Görgey 's alleged "pursuer" has effected quite a considerable retreat.
We also hear that Schlick has again taken the offensive. So he had given it up for a time. Instead of "driving back" the Magyars to Hatvan, as we were told yesterday, he was the one to be "driven back". Today, then, it is indirectly admitted that Schlick has suffered a setback. Where, we are not told. Neither are we told where he is now. Presumably, Görgey has driven him back from Rimaszombat through Lasoncz in the direction of Ipolysâg, and now he is trying to push forward again over the mountains.
Finally, it is said that the Magyars are again retreating and that Gyöngyös has again been taken from them. How far this news is correct we leave open. But even if it is correct, the question still arises whether only the Magyar advance guard has gone back to the main army, whether the movement backwards is a movement of concentration, or whether it is a retreat. In the first case it would merely be the precursor of a decisive battle. In the other case, if the Magyars should again cross the Theiss without accepting a decisive battle, neither would that prove anything at all in favour of the imperial army. One could only conclude in that case that the Magyars had thought it necessary to make their demonstration at the gates of Pest so as to encourage their followers, to train their young soldiers who are not yet much used to open battle, and perhaps also to make some recruits in the districts Jazyg and Kuman, while at the same time being not sufficiently advanced in their military organisation to venture a decisive blow with safety.
We hear from all sides that the Magyars do not confine themselves to defending their position with the forces they have already gathered, but that, on the contrary, they are using their unassailable position behind the Theiss for preparation on the grandest scale. The Austrian reports themselves admit:
"The Hungarian forces have gained time to organise and have now become impressive."
And the Magyar correspondent of the Breslauer Zeitung reports from Debreczin:
"The Magyar troops have of late had frequent military exercises, in particular great battle manoeuvres under fire, at which Frau Kossuth always appeared in a carriage-and-six and sought to encourage the soldiers by friendliness and praise. Kossuth's spouse is certainly a remarkable woman, full of ambition and patriotism, who willingly snares all dangers with her husband, and one of the clumsiest slanders which the Austrian party sought to spread from the beginning so as to discourage the Hungarian patriots and make them distrustful, was its announcement that Kossuth had already sent his wife and family to Hamburg to hasten to North America ahead of him."
That the Royal Imperial Government is becoming less and less confident in a rapid and happy outcome of the Hungarian war is proved by the negotiations with Debreczin, which are constantly resumed in spite of the hostilities. They founder, however, on two Austrian demands: compensation to Austria for the costs of war, and the handing over of all the principal leaders.
While the main Magyar army occupied Hatvan, the Magyar left wing attacked Szolnok, where the Austrians had dug entrenchments and, according to one report, had even put up a bridge across the Theiss. The Honvéds crossed, attacked the Austrians, and are said to have driven them out of Szolnok.
In the south the capture of Szegedin by the Austrians is still questionable. Today the Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen declares again that Szegedin is still in the hands of the Magyars, who have beaten off two assaults by the Serbs. Knicanin, on the other hand, is said to have destroyed part of the garrison during a sortie.
From a report by Rukavina taken from the Grazer Zeitung it is clear that the fortress of Arad was certainly not relieved by the entry of the Serbs and Austrians, but that, on the contrary, the Austrians have retreated again without having achieved anything and have again abandoned Old and New Arad to the Magyars (Bulletin No. 23 is accordingly to be corrected).[3] This report says, after describing the course of the fighting similarly to the Bulletin b:
"Since it was neither timely nor intended to occupy Old Arad for further operations, our brave troops, having fully carried out their intentions (!), withdrew again the very same day to New Arad and on the 9th, under quite minor vanguard skirmishes, to their previously determined positions. Enemy losses are considerable. Our losses were, besides 80 men, three officers killed and five wounded. Temesvâr, February 10, 1849. Baron Rukavina, Lieutenant-Field Marshal."
The Magyar correspondent of the Breslauer Zeitung reports from Transylvania that not 10,000 but 20,000 Russians are in Transylvania and unashamedly take part in the fighting against the Magyars and Szeklers. Nevertheless, the Szeklers are said to have resumed the offensive, crossed the Aluta at Marienburg and occupied Heldsdorf near Kronstadt. Incidentally, the Transylvanian mail has again failed to arrive in Vienna for several days. Concerning the Russian intervention the Breslauer Zeitung writes "from Hungary".
"The entry of the Russians into Transylvania has immensely embittered not only Hungarians but Austrians as well, since for several weeks it has been no secret that the Russians had offered their aid on condition that Austria gave its consent to the incorporation of the Danubian principalities into Russia, which has for long been the Russians' intention. This consent has been fully granted."
Subsequently we have learnt from the Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen that part of Görgey's corps has indeed advanced through the Carpathians to Sandec in Galicia. Unit after unit was sent there from Zymiec, and the Magyars eventually retreated again, probably motivated by Görgey's changed plan.
See this volume, pp. 423-24.— Ed. Grazer Zeitung No. 54, February 23, 1849.— Ed.
The Austrian Government has at last realised that in the present state of the war in Hungary it is utterly lost unless it concedes the demands of the Southern Slavs. It has further seen that it cannot put a better curb on militant and freedom-proud Hungary, once it has been subjugated, than a series of small Slav states separated from Hungary, which will restrain the Magyar element on all sides. It has therefore prevailed upon Windischgrätz to "reorganise" Hungary. Croatia, Slavonia, the Serbian Voivodina and Transylvania will be separated from Hungary, constituted into three independent provinces and, along with Galicia and Dalmatia, chained to the "German hereditary dominions". The Ban's Council commission sent from Agram to the Hungarian Royal Chancellory(1) in Pest has obtained from Windischgrätz the order for the Royal Chancellory to pay out the Croat finances which it has hitherto administered. The Hungarian central authorities in Ofen have been instructed in future to regard Croatia, Slavonia, the Voivodina and Transylvania as not belonging to their sphere. For the time being the Slovaks are apparently to be fobbed off with an order to the royal imperial commissioners to conduct their correspondence in the Slovak language. The Slovaks, incidentally, are not inclined to be driven in the slightest degree to national fanaticism, in spite of all the royal imperial efforts. They alone of all the Slav peoples of Hungary have decided Magyar sympathies.
Nevertheless, the sympathies of the Croats for the Austrian Government are not yet too certain. The royal imperial troops rule the country; a priest at Agram, who declared the Slavs to be the saviours of the Emperor and the entire monarchy, landed his village in a temporary state of siege and won himself the title of "traitor to the Emperor". In Agram there are constant complaints about the "machinations" of the Magyar party, and as a result the Committee of Public Safety has threatened all disseminators of malicious rumours with court martial.
In Agram there has been a comical affair, with which we will end today's report on Hungary: Bishop Haulik deposed the Vice Archpriest Stoos, one of the "most respected Croat patriots", on account of a pamphlet against the celibacy of priests. Moreover, he refused to celebrate a requiem mass for Voivode Suplikac because the latter was allegedly a heretic and did not believe that the Holy Ghost proceeds equally from the Son and from the Father. The man moreover issues all his writings in Latin. Now the whole storm of Croat pan-Slavist patriotism is rising against Bishop Haulik, and the poor bishop must feel that his Croats believe even more in Ban Jellachich than in the Holy Ghost.
Written by Engels on March 3, 1849
128. From the Hungarian Theatre of War
Direct news from the theatre of war is today again very scanty. From Pest we hear that the Magyars, after giving the Austrians a wholesome fright by their sudden advance, are again withdrawing to the Theiss. According to the Lloyd(1) the imperial troops are said to be occupying the line from Waitzen to Consencz (?) and from Hatvan to Szolnok. Windischgrätz has really departed from Pest into the area of Gyöngyös.
On the other hand, it is confirmed today that Bern in Transylvania has once again decisively beaten the hero Puchner. Bern had assembled his troops at Deva, in that narrow defile where the martial-law papers were already hoping that Puchner and Rukavina would block him and force him to capitulate. For according to an earlier bulletin, 3,000 Rumanians were standing there, barring every exit. To the great astonishment of all believers in the bulletins, instead of 3,000 Rumanians, there are suddenly no fewer than 4,000 Magyars with 8 cannon standing there, with whom Bern has joined. On February 9 he attacks the pursuing Austrians, defeats them after fourteen hours' fighting, wipes out several whole regiments and drives the fleeing royal imperial army back to Hermannstadt, where it re-formed only on the 12th. The Austrian right wing tried to make a stand at Alvinz on the Maros, but was thrown back to Karlsburg.
So Bern is again master of the western half of Transylvania. In the eastern half the Szeklers stand behind the Aluta, two hours from Kronstadt. The following is the official report on the fighting at the latter place:
"The hostile advance into Burzenland of the Szeklers, who have repeatedly perjured themselves (!), induced the Russian General Engelhardt to make a reconnaissance in strength in the direction of Petersberg at 7 a.m. on the 4th of this month with one Russian battalion, 150 Cossacks and two cannon, supported by one battalion of the 1st Regiment of Rumanians.
"Barely an hour from Kronstadt the reconnaissance already encountered the enemy who was moving in strong columns from Honigberg in the direction of Petersberg and who, noticing the weakness of our troops, attacked them with tenfold superior strength, without, however, making them yield.
"During the engagement the Kronstadt garrison was alerted, the entire military force followed the reconnaissance and two Russian battalions with six cannon, then a squadron of Savoy dragoons entered the line of battle in two columns.
"Although under heavy, well-maintained fire from covered positions, the Russian artillery forced the enemy's centre to yield, while a second detachment of Russian troops took the heights near Petersberg, well occupied by the enemy, and thereby made the enemy's retreat general.— He withdrew through Honigberg across the Alt bridge, which he destroyed behind him, and took up positions on the other side, but here also was forced by well-aimed artillery fire to retreat further, and with that the engagement, which had begun at 8 a.m., ended at 2 p.m.
"The enemy's retreat across the Alt was so rapid that only three prisoners could be taken. His strength was 8,000 to 9,000 infantrymen, 500 cavalrymen, all well armed, and six cannon. An enemy column approximately 1,200 men strong, which was moving from Marienburg to Szunyogszeg, returned to Heldsdorf at the beginning of the bombardment."
According to this, the Szeklers are masters of the eastern half of the country, and in spite of the 20,000 Russian soldiers, who have marched to the chief Saxon cities, all Transylvania, with the exception of Kronstadt and Hermannstadt, is in the hands of the Magyars.—What credit the brutish Flemings of Transylvania, our kith and kin, do to us Germans, emerges from the following fact:
"Kronstadt, February 5. The local Town Council has sent a message of thanks to General von Lüders, who is in command of the Russian troops in the Danubian principalities."
On the Bukovina border the imperial gentlemen are not advancing either. They claim to have got as far as Bistritz, but the matter is still in doubt. Listen to the Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen:
"Colonel Urban has already advanced from the Bukovina side as far as Bistritz in Transylvania, and Lieutenant-Field Marshal von Malkowsky was already by then two miles from Bistritz in Maroszeny, where he reconnoitred, and on the second day withdrew to his headquarters in Dorna to obtain reinforcements and thereupon to advance at once."
"Two hours from" a town which one occupies, one no longer "reconnoitres". So Bistritz is still Magyar, and Malkowsky has retreated to Watra Dorna, in Bukovina territory.
In conclusion we add the following correspondence of the Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen of February 23 from Pest:
"In the near future there is likely to be a decisive blow struck in the theatre of war in our neighbourhood. Two days ago there was already that brisk activity at headquarters which usually precedes important actions. Today, as I learnt from a fairly reliable source, the Prince himself(2) is to start and move his headquarters further forward to Gödöllö, Grassalkovich's one-time country-seat, four hours' journey from here. According to the statements of some officers, the Hungarian fighting force is surrounded (!) so that it must expect complete defeat unless (!) it again finds a little back door open (!!). The day before yesterday a convoy of more than 300 prisoners was brought in, and all from the above areas.
"The convoy consisted of Honveds of various battalions, deserted troops of the line, hussars and two carts of civilian prisoners. The greatest sensation was caused by a lady who rode at the front in a cart and was wrapped up to her nose in a cloak and shawl. The gullible crowd took her for the wife of General Görgey; later they made her a mistress of the latter. She had been arrested because her short, curly hair and her strong, somewhat unfeminine features aroused the suspicion that she was a man disguised as a woman. On examination her right to wear petticoats was indeed established, but important letters of highly treasonable content and 2,000 florins in Hungarian banknotes were found in her bustle."
Written by Engels on March 4, 1849
129. The Proceedings against Lassalle
Cologne, March 3. Our readers will remember the deputation which at the beginning of this year appeared before Prosecutor-General Herr Nicolovius to intercede for Lassalle, Cantador and Weyers, who were arrested in Düsseldorf in November.[377] At the time the Prosecutor-General promised that those arrested should be granted every facility consistent with the purpose of detention before trial; he promised to have the inquiry conducted as speedily as possible and gave the solemn assurance that it was not remotely thinkable that the inquiry would be as long drawn out as was the case in the trial of Gottschalk and comrades.[3]
Since then two months have gone by, our readers have in the meantime had occasion to obtain evidence of the "facilities" which Lassalle in particular has enjoyed during this period b; they know the civility with which Herr Morret, the prison governor, behaved, how the prisoner on remand was threatened with penitentiary discipline, how an extraordinary court was set up for him whose sentence is still awaited, and which may possibly be confinement in a cell.
The second promise, of the speediest possible conduct of the inquiry, was to be kept as brilliantly as the first.
The inquiry has now been in progress for almost three and a half months; Lassalle was, as we know, arrested on November 22. This lengthy period has not sufficed to bring the accused before the quar-terly assizes due to start in Düsseldorf on the 5th inst. Without extraordinary assizes three more months of detention will be required before the case can be brought before a jury, although the examining magistrate had already declared the inquiry closed more than three weeks ago.
After the obvious, undeniable procrastination of which the Rhenish prosecution was guilty in the Gottschalk trial, after the general disapproval which the proceedings evoked at the time, after the specific warning not to fall into the same error again, the Prosecutor-General stated today to a deputation consisting of Herren K. Schapper, K. Marx, F. Engels, M. Rittinghausen, P. Hatzfeldt and H. Bürgers, that the work necessary to prepare the proceedings could not be completed in time for the next quarter session!
Herr Nicolovius maintained, it is true, that this was purely due to the course of the inquiry itself, which had assumed an unexpectedly wide scope, and he could not admit that the trial's postponement, which had now become necessary, had been caused by the way the inquiry was conducted.
We will not reproach the Prosecutor-General for shielding his officials; this is entirely in keeping with the hierarchical order; but we are not obliged to be so considerate.
We have remarked above that the examining magistrate had already declared the inquiry closed more than three weeks ago. Two days after the accused had gone through the final hearing, Lassalle was suddenly called before the examining magistrate again. A letter was placed before him in which, during the November days, he had called for armed reinforcement for Düsseldorf. He did not deny having written the letter, and following this statement the inquiry was again resumed. The accused are now said to owe it to this additional inquiry that their trial will not come before the next assizes. For that is the revelation which Herr Nicolovius made to the deputation today.
It is clear. If the fatal letter, which entailed new hearings of witnesses, in consequence of which the examining judges' findings are too late for the preparations necessary for the public hearing to be completed within the next three weeks, if this document had only been received by the public prosecution in office during the inquiry, when the inquiry was nearing completion, or if Public Prosecutor von Ammon I had at once passed it on to the examining magistrate for use during the inquiry, then nobody could be taken to task and the accused could only blame their cruel fate for putting new material in the way of an already voluminous investigation at such a late hour. But this is not the case.
That letter which is said to have caused the whole delay has been in the hands of Herr von Ammon for almost three weeks without his bothering to pass it on to the examining magistrate. So exactly the time which would have sufficed entirely to prepare the proceedings for the next assizes, exactly that time was allowed by the Public Prosecutor to elapse, so as to instigate a new investigation afterwards, when the inquiry was closed. The Public Prosecutor will not deny the accuracy of this fact; he has himself already admitted that the letter had been quietly lying in his cabinet for that length of time.
We therefore ask: was it not obviously the intention of Herr von Ammon to protract the trial in this way? Is he not guilty of deliberately causing an evident intentional delay? We at least cannot find any motive which could entitle the representative of the public prosecution to withhold from the inquiry for weeks on end a document on which he himself places the greatest value. We hear, it is true, that the Public Prosecutor has used the three weeks to make provisional inquiries. But to us it appears irresponsible to wish to make inquiries only when the investigation in progress is alone called upon to provide the necessary information on the facts of the case.
To us it appears that the true motive for this procedure is nothing but fear of the public proceedings of a trial which has already been decided in favour of the accused by the recent trials in Cologne, and secret hopes of an early amnesty, which would, of course, be preferable to acquittal by jury.
Written by Marx on March 3, 1849
130. Magyar Victory
Cologne, March 5. The Magyar reports on the war in Hungary, according to the Kölnische Zeitung, are nothing but "fantasies" and "ridiculous exaggerations". It is the more remarkable that up to now the brave Kölnerin has not yet proved a single case of exaggeration. But how could it, indeed? Up to now confirmation of the Magyar news has invariably arrived three days later!
We did not proceed as the Kölnische Zeitung did. From the beginning we decidedly took the side of the Magyars. But we have never allowed our bias to influence our judgment of the Magyar reports. We have not declared these reports to be either exaggeration or gospel; we have compared them with the rest of the news and established their trustworthiness critically. And thus we found, indeed, that in the main they contained correct news, that a few days later they were invariably confirmed, directly or indirectly, by the Austrian bulletins. ,
After this preamble, we open our Hungarian report for today with the news that according to the Magyar correspondence (Breslauer Zeitung) Bern won a brilliant victory over Puchner and on February 15 took Hermannstadt by storm. This news is taken from the official Hungarian Moniteur (Közlöny) of February 21. In Debreczin this victory was celebrated on the 20th with a gun salute and Te Deum. During the battle, Bern received two shots in the left hand, as a result of which he had to have three fingers amputated. "There is no longer any trace of the Russians in Transylvania." Puchner is said to have fled to Temesvâr.
We see that this news bears the stamp of complete trustworthiness. Yesterday, the news from Transylvania about Bern covered events up to the 12th, on which day Puchner tried to reassemble his troops that had been driven back in wild flight from Deva to Szâszvâros, from Szâszvâros to Mühlenbach, from Mühlenbach to Hermannstadt, in position before Hermannstadt. In Hermannstadt itself, as we know, he found only 4,000 Russians for his reinforcement, who, however, were evidently insufficient, with the rest of his army, to hold the ground against Bern's army. It is therefore absolutely credible that Bern—"unfortunately a good soldier", as the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung says — delivered there the last decisive blow to the admittedly incapable Puchner and stormed the town itself.
With this victory Bern is again master of all Transylvania. Only Kronstadt, situated in the extreme south-eastern corner, and the environs of Bistritz in the extreme north-east are still in imperial hands. Malkowsky has made an incursion into the Bistritz area from Bukovina. We know that this noble hero evacuates the whole of Bukovina and retreats close to the Russian border whenever Bern merely shows up in the distance. Now, when Bern is 30 to 40 miles away, the brave Malkowsky has again taken the offensive and has been operating for three weeks in the Carpathians. The result of this daring enterprise is that Malkowsky has occupied Bistritz, a Saxon town, and thereby has in three weeks occupied precisely five miles of Transylvanian territory. The 25th Army Bulletin, just arrived (see below), reports that his troops have "once again fought a very lucky battle", so lucky that after the battle "they returned to their positions in Bistritz", that is, they did not even retain the battlefield. Very lucky, indeed!
In the south the Hungarians, according to the same Magyar report, have also won at Arad SL significant victory, at which 300 men of the Leiningen regiment went over to them.
From the Theiss the news is as follows. According to the Bulletin, Windischgrätz transferred his headquarters to Hatvan on the 24th, and to Gyöngyös on the 25th, which does not mean, however, that he was in Gyöngyös on the 25th. On this the Magyar correspondent, again a day in advance of the Austrian news, reports:
"From Pest we learn from a reliable source that Windischgrätz was beaten at Zibakhaza on the 26th, and that, therefore, in Ofen everything is held in readiness for retreat. The pontoon equipment has already left for Raab. The artillery park, however, was taken from the General Meadow at Ofen into the fortress itself. Two thousand men are said to have gone over to the Hungarians from the Croats. A great sensation has been caused in Pest by the arrest of Mr. A. Wodjaner, the son of the richest banker in Hungary."
On this arrest, which has caused the greatest scandal in Pest and which shows the Hungarian bourgeoisie what it has to expect from the imperial army, another report says the following:
"Kossuth had founded a cloth factory on shares, without himself being a shareholder. Wodjaner was appointed its director. The factory was endowed with a working capital of 60,000 florins. When Pest was occupied by imperial troops, 20,000 florins of this were requisitioned without regard to the representations that the enterprise was one of private industry. In spite of this objection, and although the 20,000 florins had already been paid, on February 25 the demand was made that now the entire 60,000 florins should be paid over. When the partner, Albert Wodjaner, opposed this demand, he was publicly arrested on February 26, which created much stir. Thereupon the 60,000 florins were paid, and on the next day he was released."
The division of Hungary in the interest of the Southern Slavs is confirmed. The Pesther Courier reports the following:
"Pest, February 22. Yesterday a manifesto of His Majesty the Emperor was published in the Pest comitat, according to which in future the Kameralgüter of Croatia, the Serbian Voivodina, of the Bacs, Torontal, Temes and Csanâd comitats and of Transylvania are to be administered separately from the other estates belonging to the Hungarian Crown. According to the same manifesto, passports must in future be issued in German and the work of the Hungarian customs offices which formerly existed at the frontiers, will have to cease."(1)
To complete the above news we now give, first, the remaining reports of the Magyar correspondence, from which one can see how little Debreczin dreams of defeat:
"From a reliable source I can report to you that Count Erbach, the second aide of Prince Windischgrätz, has been taken prisoner and brought to Debreczin. In the Debreczin Moniteur (Közlöny), of February 13, Ernst Kiss is named as Field Marshal and resident in Debreczin. The Wiener Zeitung made out long ago that this Hungarian hero had gone over to the imperial side. General L. Mészâros is again Minister of War. The same issue also contains the proceedings of the House of Representatives of February 12, in which an excerpt from Kossuth's speech is very remarkable for its indication that the Court in Olmiitz appears to have condescended, behind the back of Windischgrätz, to take part in peace negotiations. In the night of February 25-26 many wagons of wounded men were taken to Pest from Szolnok. Windischgrätz is now in Gödöllö near Pest, but Jellachich is still in Pest. In the place of General Ottinger, Lieutenant-Field Marshal Count Schlick, whose previous army corps was almost wiped out at Tokaj and in the Zips, has taken over command of the imperial army at Szolnok."
Furthermore, we give a report of the Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen on the conduct of the war in the south, which is the more trustworthy as it appears in a paper written in the Slav interest:
"According to authentic reports, Szegedin is in the hands of Serbs, who have imposed on this poor town a contribution of 500,000 florins C. M.; but it is to be feared that the payment of this sum, a considerable one for Szegedin, will not be the only blow to strike the inhabitants. The Serbs have much to avenge, and we have no reason to believe that they will be generous in revenge. Many refugees have already arrived here from the Banat area and their accounts amply confirm these sad conjectures. The streets are everywhere crowded with their poor comrades in misfortune, who, not knowing where to turn, roam about hungry, desperate and without shelter; for their huts, where they slept calm and carefree only yesterday, have now become heaps of rubble! I spoke to one of these refugees, who vividly described the sufferings he had undergone during the flight; while he barely escaped death in one place, in another he nearly lost his hand, since some Serbs, who assaulted him in rapacious fury, wanted to hack off his hand because they could not pull the signet ring from his finger quickly enough. But I will not trouble you further with accounts of similar cruelties and atrocities."
Finally, the official Bulletin No. 25 itself, which tells us further only that Götz and Jablonowsky have again occupied the towns of Eperies and Kaschau abandoned by General Görgey as he moved on:
"His Excellency Field Marshal Prince Windischgrätz started out on the 24th inst. from Ofen and on that day transferred his headquarters to Hatvan and, on the 25th,to Gyöngyös. Thereby communications with the corps of Lieutenant-Field Marshal Count Schlick were restored. According to reports received from Transylvania, the most active and careful Colonel Urban has again survived a very happy skirmish with the insurgents in Baiersdorf, in the neighbourhood of Bistritz. To obtain precise information on the position of the insurgents, Colonel Urban started from Jâd on the 18th inst., marched through Bistritz via Heidendorf to the junction of the roads to Baiersdorf and Szeretfalva, where he sent off an outflanking column under Major Wieser against Szeretfalva. With the main force he advanced against Baiersdorf, there encountered the Polish Legion and stormed the place with bayonets. After this heated and victorious battle the enemy was driven back towards Magyaros. In this battle the seriously wounded insurgent Colonel Riczko, two officers and 200 men were taken prisoner; three guns, a cart, an imperial and an insurgent standard, ammunition and baggage were captured. Unfortunately, we on our side lost Senior Lieutenant Count Baudissin of the Savoy dragoons, who there met a hero's death for Emperor and fatherland. After the purpose of this enterprise had been achieved, Colonel Urban returned to his position in Bistritz. Colonel Urban speaks with high praise of the courage and endurance of all his troops, of the Rumanian auxiliaries as well as of the Galician cordon battalion, the regiments of the Karl Ferdinand infantry and the Savoy dragoons. In Upper Hungary, the division of Baron Ramberg, consisting of Götz's and Jablonowsky's brigades, occupied Eperies and Kaschau on the 21st inst."
Written by Engels on March 5, 1849
FROM THE PREPARATORY MATERIALS
Endnotes
[361] The reference is to the draft laws on clubs and meetings, posters and the press which were being prepared by the Government (on this see Marx's article "Three New Draft Laws" published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung on March 13, 1849, present edition, Vol. 9). These drafts are compared with the reactionary press laws passed in France in September 1835 (see Note 181).
[362] The reference is to the speech from the throne by Frederick William IV at the inaugural sitting of the Second United Diet (see Note 89) on April 2, 1848; the text of the speech was prepared by the Camphausen Ministry.
[363] The White Hall—a hall in the royal palace in Berlin where the first joint sitting of the two Chambers of the newly convened Prussian Diet was held on February 26, 1849.
[365] The reference is to the two decrees on amending the old trade statute — introducing chambers of commerce (Gewerberäte) and trade courts (Gewer-begerichte)—which were issued by the Prussian Government on February 9, 1849.
[366] Gagging laws—the name given to the six exceptional laws passed in England in 1819 after the cutting down by hussars and yeomanry of participants in a mass meeting for electoral reform at St. Peter's Field, Manchester (the so-called battle of Peterloo); the laws restricted freedom of assembly and the press.
[368] Taking advantage of the forthcoming expiration of the seven months' armistice signed by Denmark and Prussia at Malmö (see Note 75) the Prussian ruling circles refused to prolong it with a view to raising the prestige of the Prussian monarchy by waging the war, which was very popular in Germany, and realising their aggressive plans. Military operations were resumed in March 1849 and proceeded with varying success. Eventually, under pressure from the Great Powers, Prussia signed a peace treaty with Denmark in Berlin on July 2, 1850, temporarily renouncing its claims to Schleswig and Holstein and treacherously leaving the population of these duchies to continue the war alone. The Schleswig-Holstein troops were defeated and compelled to cease resistance. As a result both duchies remained within the Kingdom of Denmark.
[369] The moderate liberal Gioberti who headed the Piedmont Government strove to use the movement which had spread in Italian states for an all-Italy Constituent Assembly and unification of the country in a democratic way in order to carry out the plan of establishing a federation of Italian states which was in the interests of the Savoy dynasty. After the proclamation of a republic in Rome on February 9, 1849, and the beginning of a campaign for a republic in Tuscany, Gioberti made efforts to restore the power of Pius IX and Grand Duke Leopold II with military aid from Piedmont. Such a policy and his refusal to carry out progressive reforms in Piedmont made Gioberti extremely unpopular and led to his resignation on February 21, 1849. Under mass pressure and apprehensive over the future of the Savoy dynasty in the impending crisis in Italy, the Piedmont ruling circles were compelled to declare on March 12, 1849, the resumption of the war against Austria. However, the Piedmont army, which was poorly prepared for the war and led by monarchist generals who were afraid to impart a really popular character to the war, was soon routed by the Austrians. On March 26 the new King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel, was compelled to sign an armistice with Austria on more onerous terms than in August 1848.
[371] The information reproduced by Engels from a French newspaper was not entirely correct. However, the events which marked the beginning of the culminating stage of the struggle between the revolutionary movement in Sicily and the Government of King Ferdinand of Naples provided a basis for rumours about the
[372] proclamation of a Sicilian republic. On February 25, 1849, Ferdinand sent the Sicilians an ultimatum. Though promising to sanction the restoration of the 1812 Constitution he demanded disarmament and consent to occupation of the major parts of the island by Neapolitan troops. The refusal of the Sicilians to accept the ultimatum led to fierce fighting; although the Neapolitan forces were superior in numbers and arms, the Sicilians offered resistance until the beginning of May 1849.
[373] The thoughts expressed here show Engels' keen insight into future military developments in Hungary. Indeed, the general counter-offensive of the Hungarian revolutionary army was launched in the mentioned region at the beginning of April 1849. On April 2, the revolutionary army won a major victory at Hatvan, followed by a series of strong blows at the enemy. Thus, Engels' forecast did not come true so far as the time of the offensive was concerned, but was quite correct in respect of the place of concentration of the main Hungarian forces for a decisive blow and its direction.
[34] The Köllnische Rathaus (Cologne Town Hall) was situated in the centre of Berlin which in the middle of the nineteenth century was still called Kölln or Altkölln (Old Cologne).
[7] In accordance with the Constitution of the Swiss Confederation adopted on September 12, 1848, the National Council (Nationalrat) consisted of deputies elected every three years by universal suffrage. The Constitution also provided for the existence of the Council of States (Ständerat) made up of two deputies from each canton. The two Councils constituted the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung), the supreme legislative body in Switzerland. Great Councils (Gross Räte) — legislatures of urban cantons set up under the Swiss Constitution of 1803.
[375] On November 22, 1848, Lassalle delivered a speech at a popular meeting in Neuss (near Düsseldorf) in which he called upon the people to offer if necessary armed support to the Prussian National Assembly. Lassalle was arrested on the same day. On the legal proceedings against Lassalle see Note 299.
[376] Here and elsewhere, the reference is to the articles of the Code pénal (see Note 88).
[377] Code d'instruction criminelle—the French Criminal Code in force in the Rhine Province of Prussia. Further Article 360 of this Code is cited. The Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 186, January 4, 1849, carried information about the deputation of sixteen Düsseldorf citizens to Prosecutor-General Nicolovius among whom were members of the Cologne Workers' Association and the Democratic Society. The deputation handed in a petition signed by 2,800 Düsseldorf citizens, the text of which the newspaper appended to the report. Kameralgiiter—landed estates which passed into the ownership of the Crown after the death of the last descendant of a feudal family, confiscated lands etc. The Kameralgiiter also gave the owner the right to collect taxes and other privileges, and were managed by a special administration direcdy subordinated to the Hungarian Royal Chancellory in Ofen.
[3] This article, as well as a number of other reports below, was written by Engels during his forced stay in Switzerland. On September 26, 1848, a state of siege was declared in Cologne and an order was issued for the arrest of some of the editors of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, including Engels. Engels emigrated from Prussia to Belgium, where he was arrested by the Brussels police and on October 4 deported to France. After a short stay in Paris Engels went on foot to Switzerland (see his travel notes "From Paris to Berne" in Vol. 7 of the present edition, pp. 507-29). About November 9 Engels arrived in Berne via Geneva and Lausanne and remained there until January 1849. While in emigration he regularly sent to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung articles and various items of information.