LITERATURE. Scenes of the Civil War in Hungary in 1848 and 1849. Shobere. [From the "Britannia."]

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 466, 2 October 1850, Page 3

LI TE R A TUR E . Scenes of the Civil War in Hungary in 1848 and 1849. Shobere. [From the "Britannia."]

This was originally published in letters in a German newspaper. As the name of the author is concealed, he being only mentioned as Baron W , and as the names of all persons and places are either omitted, or the initials merely given, some doubt may be felt as to the authenticity af the nanative. Yet there arc obvious reasons for the concealment, as Ihe author was deeply indeoted to some fanuilifs in Hungary, and owed his life to the shelter afforded him by the i datives of an Hungarian to whom he had formerly showed some acts of kindness. To have spoken more plainly than he has done, therefore, might have compromised the 6afety of his Magyar friends, as in the eyes of the Kassuth i arty the piotection of an Austraisn ofiicsr would have been an unpardonable offenc<\ We are inclined, from internal evidence, to regard the woik as perfectly genuine, though its romantic passages may possibly have been' coloured highly. The author, a cavalry officer, formed part of the Milan ganison when theinsunection in that city broke out. When the Austrians retreated, the country swarmed with their foes and their ears met no other cry than " Death to the Germans !" Afienvards 1 c was among the besieged in Peschiera, and suffered with his biave comrades the extiemity of fiinine before ropitulating to the Saulinian army. As he was &woin not to serve in Italy in that campaign he solicited and obtained pprmis&iou to enter the uimy of Jellachich as a volunteer. Of tie Italians he speaks with contempt. Ihey would do anything for gtheir country but fight for it ; yet when a contest is to be decided by aims, when the tiumpst sounds for battle, of what avail is anj thing but the «tout heart and the stiong arm ? In their re treat through Ifculy the author and his comrades were hea'ed with contumely, but they did not bear it very patiently :— " Of our march throuju Italy I have nothing further to say. That the populace, but among whom were many well-dressed men and women, insulred us m every possible way, even pelted us with mud, you. who know something of the Italians, can readily conceive. When did an Italian ever treat a foreigner, from whom he had nothing to fear, but by whom he hoped to make a gain, otherwise than with inbult ! The base wretches ! " One day, however, I could not forbear laughing at a scene of this kind. We were passing through -a small Roman town, when an elegantly dressed young" man had the impudence to spit in the face of a coruoiai of ihe Oltochwns, who was marching upon the wins;, and still carried his lisjht ami in a sling. FiruJy gripping the offender with his left hand, he hurled him into the ranks, were the soldiers made a ie£ukr ball of him, kicking and cuffing him from one to another, and finally' flinging him upon the first dunghill they camp to. The populace showed a disposition to mi ke a disturbance ; but we assumed so serious an atitude, and our boider men cut such hideous faces, and began to screw on their bayonets, that the Sardinian officer, who accompanied us themselvei reprimanded the rib. ble, who thereupon ran away." He first saw Jellachich on the military frontier of Croatia, and was most favourable impressed by big appearence and manner. From this period the career 'of our cava'ry officer wai one of continued strife. But before we notice hs adventures we must hear his opinion on the Croats of the Turkish frontier :— "What enthusiasm, what zeal for the Emperor and the independance oi Croatia ! I have myself seen, in. districts of the Ottochan regiment, wives and maiden take up the musket, and repair to the chain of posts on the Turkish boundary, that all the men might be able to take the field ; and such an eight clays' duty at these frontier posts is no trifle, and rtquirs not a little firmness. Old," half-invalied, frontier subalterm, incapacitated for taking the field, were the commandants ; young many of them handsome females, composu their troops. By irfy faith, I should have had no objection to be the commander of such a Corps of Ottochan females myself 1 " They are almost all pretty— nay, even handsome ; tall, elegant figures, yet plump ; small feet, ov-il faces, long, datk hail, hanging, braided into two tresses, far down the back ; rather dark complexion, it is true, but at the same time dark, animated eyis, red lips, exquisitely beautiful teeth ; and brisk and lively withal in manner and gfs'ure. This, you see, accounts for the wish to command such a corps of Auk z 3ns. At any rate, it does one good to beho'd again friendly female faces, instead of seeing, as of late in Italy, tongues almost always stretched out at us. This was really done shortly before the outbreak of the revolution by a lady of very high rank, who met me in her carriage, and whom I politely saluted, because I had I had been several times iv compares with her. B e sidea, the costume of the female sex heie is very handsome and ornamental. The sleeves of the chemise ara neatly worked with a variety of arabesques, and every scam is braided with gay coiding, and the etockings are generally coloured. A Croatian woman, in her Sunday dress, looks just like a female peasent on the stage. " And these women frequently astonish by theircourage and fortitude. We h,id wives of frontier so'dieis with us in Peschiera, and on the march through Hungary, who equalled the men in the endurance oi (a igue, and displayed coinage in battle. In Hungary we had with usa young Croatian, the daughter of an old Seressan, who was as daiing a rider as the beat luigsir, and moie then once fearlessly joined the men in the charge. An Hungarian Jurut gt.ve her, iv an acfon, a cut on her right check, which bhe returned with a severe blow on the arm, seized the bridle of his horse, and took him prisoner. This hoiEe, a grey stallion, she ever aftei wards rode, and rtfu ed to se'l, though 1 offered her forty ducats for him. " The villages of the borderers in Ihe mountains ajc mean and scattered, the houses almost all iv the Swiss style. In tiie rich plain of Sdlavouia, on the other baud, where wine, nmize, wheat, and caj.iul vegetables of all sorts aie giown in abundance, the villages aie. large and lCgulur. Fine ullcjs, moaily of plum-trees which are planted here in great nuuibjis, border the wide village streels*; the houses are spacious, neat, m good repair; no filch, no disorder, no decay — at the same time, no beggars, no poor, no lags ; every whue plenty, regularity, activity. " All this makes a most agreeab'e impression, especially ou coining from Italy, 4he land of dirt, b;ggary and e\eiy kind of disorder. The people here prate less than the Italians, bat then they aicmoifi industrious ; and as for courage, I would engage with one company of bordeiers to drive a thousand of those Roman or Ncapo'itan volunteers, who made behove that they would eat us up, hide, hair, and all, to the world'i end. " Upon the while, I have taken such a liking to the country and way of living heie on the Irontieis, that I have a great maid when itm war /, <*vei, if I am living, to yet n-yaelf exchanged fiom .ny Uu»i,ar re«i" i raiuit into a Slavonian frontier r ; .t."

He had the command of an advanced guard in Hungary, and while engaged in thin fatiguing and prrikm duty wai almost in constant conflict with the Hungarian horse. Among the Magyar squadrons he often recognised some of his old comrades, for it wai impoigible to keep any of the Hungarian soldiers true to the colours of Anstiia. The auihor does justice to the gallantry of bis foes; they make incomparable cavalry, and it it curious to mark the respectful manner in which lie speaks of these feailess cavaliers, who make such caps in his ranks, while he has no terms but contempt for the Italian volunteers who fivd at the sight of an Austrian uniform. In one of his excursions he enme with his troop upon a stately Magyar mansion. Demanding quaileis with little ceremony, he was led into the presence the fair chatelaine, and recognised in her a celebrated Mi'an » eauiy, who had become tbe wile oi one of his old comrades, an Hungarian count. Presently the count hiirßclf appeared, and then his sister, the Counter H'ilenc, the most beautiful Hunganan female he had ever seen. Here he rested two days, the eyes of the beautiful countess becoming each hour more dangerous for him. He pared fiom his generous entertainers with etrotion ; but the count did not disguise his intention of joining the Magyar ranks. In this war, which fills up one of the most chivalrous ai.d romantic pages of mod'-rn hiatoiy, the Mag yar ladies, like the damsels of Croatia, vird with the men in courage and daring. On each side were deli cate women, who rode in the rnnks, sustained all the hardships of war, and jointul in the onset when the bu&les founded a charge. How the author next met ltii friends must be told in his own words. After a m-11-contested action he was summoned to the side of a wounded officer of the insurgents .— " In spite of weariness I immedia'ely followed my guide to the hurdle-shed, which w.:s fitted up for an hospital. Dismal was the appearance of this dark low place, scantily lighted by the band.lanterns of the surgeons and attendants, who, uiih their blood-striped sleeves tucked up high, and with aprons equally bloody, were busily engaged. The wounded lay close to one another upon diity straw, wh eh in places wa« quite wet and slippery from the blood upon it. Loud and gentle sighs, moan*, groans, gnashing of teeth, mingled at times with curies in the Bohemian, Polish, Hungaiinn, German, and Cioatian languages. I was obliged to ra.ly my courage, lett I should be scared back. " In the furthest corner of the Ion? building, on a bed of straw, lay the wounded piisoner who wished to fcpeak to me. How was I shocked when the light of the attendant's lantern fell upon his fuce, and I recognised Count St ! " On our march through Croatia to Vienna I had passed two days at his mansion j had seen him in the society of two charming women— his wife and his sister—in the full enjoyment of happiness ; and now in •what a state was I doomed to find bim! St , a Magyar to the inmost fibre of the heart, had indeed then told me that he should take up arms for Kussuth ; but thus to meet him again I wai not at all prepared. " Kneeling by the side of my pale friend, whose noble countenance bore the evident impress of speedy death, I grasped his cold hand, and asked him in what way I could be serviceable to him. ' Thonk you for coming,' he replied, in a voice scarcely audible, and thii effort manifestly caused him great pain ; ' I heard that you were here, aud I sent for you. lam dying ! my chest is shattered. When I am dead take the I ocket-book out of my uniform, and .send it to my wife who lives ot X— — : it contains my will and o.her papfrs.' " Here he made a long pause during which I strove to cheer him. •' ' Don't talk thus— 'tis of no use— we part # as friends— l have fought for my country— you are faithful to your colouis. 1 " I preised his hand in silence. " » Where is your sister Helene ?' I at length asked. »• With the army,' he answered—' *he is fighting for Hungary.' "It was> a considerable time before St— — could utter « word. He moaned gently ; and a regimental surgeon, who came to us, significantly made the sign of the cross with his finger. " At length, after a full hour, he suddenly raised himself a-d said, ' So— now 'tis all over — salute Marie (the name of his wife)— Marie !' and with that he stretched himielf out, his eye-strings broke, and his spirit flsd." Some dajs after he was engaged in another skirmish. With the retieat of the foe his soldiers, who had secured some provisions, feasted in high glee. The watchfires flamed brightly, and the men danced and sung round the cheerlul blaze. He went himself to visit the posts :— «« Satisfied on this point, I set out, with my two attendants, on my retnrn to the watch-fire, the tall flame of which (Ured up cheeringly before us ; when the moon shining tolerably bright, we perceived a human figure lying at the foot of the tree. "We went nearer— it was a woman, dressed as a man, in the costume of an Hungarian magnate ; the long hail 1 which fell over her shoulders betrayed her i«*r My Sereasans turned her round 5 and by the pale moonbeams I recognized Helene, the lovely sister of my friend St— — . Inexpressible anguish thriled me at that moment, and I was well-nigh throwing my. self on the corpse. 11 Forcibly mus'ering my spirits, I ordered my men 1o carry the body to the fire. There we examined it more closely, and with extreme anxiety I sought to ascertain whether there was any hope left of reviving her. Vain hope I it was several houri since her spirit had departed ; the hall of one of our riflemen had gone through her heart From the small red wound the hljod was still oozing in single drops, which I carefully caught in my handkerchief, to be preserved as a relic. "My only consolation was that the deceased could not have suffered long ; that she must have expired the very moment she was struck. Those pure, noble, still wonderou9 beautiful features— on her brovi dwelt peace and composure, and the lips almost smiled. There she lay, as if in tranquil slumber ; and yet those eyes were never more to open — tho»e lips never more" to utter noble sentiments, or words of kindness. . " My hussars were visibly affected, and thought it a pity that one so young and 10 beautiful should die so early. Many of them, who had been with me on our first march through Ifuugary, for two days together at St 's mansion, instantly recognised Helene, and doubly lamented her death because she had shown much liindness to them. "We thawed by a fire the ground not far from a maple-tree, and were employed nearly the whole night in digging a la ge deep grave with our hand«billi and iwordi. By the time the Rnt rays of dawn appeared we bad fin.shed ; an hussar, who could do carpenter'i work, having meanwhile made a simple cross out ol the items of two young white maples. •« The corpse, in full uniform; the kolpack, with plume of glibtenin? heron's feathers on the head ; the light Turkibh sabie by her aide ; was then carefully

wrapped in a clean, lance blanket, which we bad with us, and so deposited in the grave, which we filled up again with earth. Then, regardless of caution, I had a full saute fired with pistols over the grave. I have preserved a ama'l gold ring and a lock of her hair for a memorial. When our melancholy business was finished we moved off after the enemy, who retreated rather hastily. " The te mpeituoui feelings that filled nay heart I nm not able to describe. Helene had, as I subsequently 'earned, served at an aide-de-camp to her maternal uncle, who commanded a considerable Magyar corps, and was shot, when acting in thxt capacity, by our soldiers in the above-mentioned action. 1 ' He wan present befo<e Vienna during the sei^e under Windischgriifz, a d had as great a contempt for the unwarl.ke inhabitants as for the degenerate Italians :—: — " On the first day after our arrival, and still more frequently afterward 1 ?, we received numerous visits from inhabitants of Vienna, who had fled from the city and other places round about, still further off. There was no end to their compl-iints »nd wail'ngs about the insurrection. Their lamentations and burs's of anger were often highly comic " To these Philistines and Money bags it was tlie greatest of hardships that they were obliged to forego their domestic conveniences, their seat at the theatre, their visits to the coffee -hou«e; and yet tbe'r want of firmnns, their cowardice, were the principle causes of all the mischief. Had the numerous burgher guard possed courage at first and displayed energy, the Aula and the r.bble of the suburbs would never hnve got the belter of them; and tlie storm, which b"gan to burst over Vienna on the fith of Oc'ober, might have been prevented. Indeed, had not the honour of Austria been at stake, these street-loungers might, for me, have regained their comforts as they could- " Now that we were there and going into fire f r them, they had wonders to tell about the heroic deeds which they had already pn-formed, or meant to perform. One of those drawing-room heroes, an Elegant, such as evrry city produces in abundance, in yellow gloves, and with the lorgnette at his eye, stiutted about among us, and enlarged upon the feats of courage a !> d loyalty which he purposed to achieve for the Emperor; but one day I very soon silenced him. " I took the old, greasy, fur cap of a Seressan's, which happened to be lying there, and clapped it upon his befrizzled head, saying ' That fits admirably. If you want to fight against the insurgents you cau enter at once among n>y Red-mantles ; there is a vacancy at this moment ;' and, while I was thus speaking, a comrade threw an old red cloak over his shoulders. He stood quite confounded, and knew not what to say ; while my men greeted their new companion with roars of laughter. "The handsome Croatian and Slavonian women who were with the borderers attracted the particular notice of these Vienna coxcombs, who considered them as piquant beauties: But they met with anything but a favourable reception from them. Those bold, fiery maidens have a very different taste from that of the ladiei of Vienna. My handsome Seressan damsel, whom I mentioned in my last letter, gave one of these puppies, who had probably made rather too close approaches to her, such a watsche, as the people of Vienna call it, that he came to me rubbing his tingling cheek, and complained of the girl. I laughed heartily at him, but offered him my horse sword, if he whs disposed to fight his antagonist, and in that way to obtain satisfaction ; but he manifested no inclination to do so, saying that would bs beneath him. '• Our exterior seemed not particularly pleasing to these visitors ; and in the Radical papers of Vienna wo were even described as a band of ragged vagabonds. In truth, we did look rither savage and jrrotesque ; and a parade would not have exhibited any very splended sight." His personal adventures admiiably display the character of the Hungarian war. Quaiter was rarely a*ked or gran'ed. The high spirit which animated the combatßnts on each side made them prefer death to Captivity. In the hand-to-hand encounters which continually took place everything depended on the dexterity of the cavaliers. Some of these duels were long protracted, from the dexterity of the swordsmen and their perfect horsemanship The ambor, who had escaped from numerous engagements with but slight wounds, was at last destined to experience in his owu person the calamities of war. In a charge hit horse was killed under him ; he was himself shot in the side and received a bayonet thrust in the leg, and was left for dexd on the field. Fortunately he succeeded, after a long fainting fit, in rejoining his corps ; but to travel, for the band was then in full retreat, in a wagon over rough roads would have been death. In a house to which he was conveyed in a Magyar village he recognised the portrait of a comrade drawn by himself. The females of the family, though Magyar heart and soul, promised him shelter, and nobly kept their word. Here he could observe the Magyar tactics ; the mistress of the bouse, with her two daughters, thought no sacrifice too great for the Magyar cause. The eldest daughter was a true Magyar in form and spirit :— ' Wilma, the eldest daughter, who had returned with her little herd from the hansay, come to pay her respects to me— a genuine Hungarian beauty, tall and 'slim, firm in cartiage, elastic in gait and movement, with regular features, dark, expressive eyes, a bold arched nose, and luxuriant raven-black hair. Her dress, on account of her masculine occupation, was half Amazon— black tschismen on her neat feet ; gatjes, of blue linen ; a short petticoat of the same colour, bordered at bottom with a narrow red ribbon ; a tight-fitting spencer of dark blue cloth, made almost like the dolman of an hussar, and having two rows of white buttons at the breast. She wore her hair in two long tresses, entwined with a narrow red blue and green ribbon (the Hungarian colours). " The transmission of despatches was not attended with the delay of a minute. If Mischko (th • boy) wis not at hand, or happened to be already riding post, one of the girls would take his place. On a dark, stormy, rainy night, when Mischko was alrealy out, and another despatch suddenly arrived, I have known Wilma, without saying a word, run to the horses, fling a halter over the head of a three-year old stallion, ipring 1 ke lightening upon the back of the rearing animal, smack her long whip, and dash away over the dark heath. " Next morning, seated quietly by my bed, she told me that she rode ten miles out and ten miles back, and was at home soon after twelve o'clock." His escape at last was difficult, and attended with many perils. But we have already exceeded our limi's, and must part company from him. , The translation by Mr. Shoberl is extremely clever : it is forcible, distinct, and spirited. The romance and peril of war, — with its wild joya and deep but transient sorrows,— have never had a better narrator. The volume completely exhibits the chnraoter of the Hungarian contest, and is the more to be admired from the soldierlike and gallant spirit it evinces. The fervour which inspired the noblest lyric on record — Korner's song to his sword— flashes forth here with the power and brilliancy which hays always distinguished the martial mind of Germany.