r MAN WHO BARON JELLACIC M.HARTLEY THE MAN WHO SAVED AUSTRIA A Selection from Mills & Boon's List of General Literature MY PARISIAN YEAR. By Maude Annesley. With 20 Illus- trations. Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. MY SUDAN YEAR. By E. S. Stevens. With 40 Illustrations. Demy Svo. ios. 6d. net. A CENTURY OF ACTORS. By Cecil Armstrong. With 16 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. ios. 6d. net. A grope ON THE PRUSSIAN THRONE: Frederick William II. By Gilbert Stanhope. With 12 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. ios. 6d. net. THE MAN WHO SAVED AUSTRIA: The Life and Times Of Baron JellaeiC. By M. Hartley. With 18 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. ios. 6d. net. THE ROMANCE OF THE MEN OF DEVON. By Francis Okibble, Author of "The of Romance the Oxford Colleges." W ith a Frontispiece in Photogravure and 16 Illustrations. Crown ovo. 6s. " RAMBLES IN IRELAND. By Robert Lynd, Author of Home LiK- in Ireland." With 5 Illustrations in Colour, and 24 from Photographs. Crown 8vo. 6s. RAMBLES IN FLORENCE. By G. E. Troutbeck, Author of Stones from Italian History." With 8 Illustrations in Colour, and from 32 Photographs. Crown 8vo. 6s. RAMBLES IN NORWAY. By Harold Simpson. With 8 Illus- trations in Colour, and 32 from Photographs. Crown 8vo. 6s. TRAMPS THROUGH TYROL. Frederick Stoddard By Wolcott ("Dolomite"). With Illustrations. 30 Demy* Svo 7s. od. net. TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF CRICKET. By Arthur A. r alt " Ph °t0 aVure and >'' ^ ^ lustrations. q Vvo. 7 s 6d net ENG A D U T LIA: The Record of a TO UR ivt f fvA Memorable Warner. With 51 Illustrations. 8vo. 7 s 6d "net Demy MY YEA R - By Padraic COLUM. With . 15 Illustrations.iSSS c full-page8 Demy Svo. 10s. 6d. net. VANC0UVER - B. Witt J % PULLEN-BURRY. "wttffSS40 lUnstraUons. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. 'OS! I'll JELLACkS, [85O. <w THE MAN WHO SAVED AUSTRIA THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BARON JELLACIC BY M. HARTLEY AUTHOR OF "A SERESHAN " WITH 18 ILLUSTRATIONS 1/ MILLS & BOON, LIMITED ^ > 49 RUPERT STREET *\ ,v\ 7r LONDON, W. \ /(y\ Published 1912. Sto Bog dade i sreca junacka. God (What sends and a soldier's fortune.) Note i. Abbreviations of Austrian Military Titles. F.M. = Field-Marshal. F.M.L. (Feldmarshallieutenant) = Lieutenant-General. F.Z.M. (Feldzeugmeister) = General of Infantry. Inhaber = (lit. owner) Honorary Colonel. Note 2. Pronunciation—The Slav c=tz c=ch c" = tch. ; ; FOREWORD I feel the necessity for an apology in putting this biography of a great man before the public. Interest and enthusiasm cannot take the place of endeavour is not and I can knowledge ; ability ; lay no claim to the proud title of historian. Yet my is of a writer's best efforts the subject worthy great ; period covered is the most complex of modern times, and the setting is a country little known to English people. I do not write for the erudite Slavist— even the readers of Mr Seton Watson's most able books on Slavic questions will find my explanations un- and too but those necessary my history sketchy ; who know little of Central European politics may like to follow the career of a man whose contempor- aries could write of him as "the greatest fiVure in Europe during these last two years" (1848-49). My acknowledgments to the friends who have helped me with this book are heart-felt. Professor Friedjung's kind counsel put me further on the road which his own excellent histories had shown me. Vll viii THE MAN WHO SAVED AUSTRIA In Zagreb, I have to thank Herr von Bojnicic, of the Archives, and Herr Braunschmitt, of the Akademie des Wissenschaft, for unending kind- ness and help. But, beyond all, I owe a debt of gratitude to the Grafin von Jellacic, and I must beg these ladies to accept, as a small return for all their goodness, this memorial, though it is an unworthy one, of their great uncle, the hero-Ban. M. HARTLEY. April 1 91 2. CONTENTS PAGE 1. THE BEGINNING OF A CENTURY I 2. CROATIA AND THE FRONTIER SYSTEM 9 . 21 3. METTERNICH AND HIS MASTER 4. THE SERVICE .... 3 l 5. "A GERMAN SOLDIER" 43 6. RADETSKY ..... 55 " " 7. THE DAYSTAR 65 8. THE SOUTHERN-SLAV RACE 77 9. ON THE BORDER 86 10. THE FIGHT AT POZVIZD 96 11. BEFORE THE STORM . 1 10 12. THE FIRST THUNDER-CLAPS 121 13. BANUS !..... J3 1 14. ORGANISATION . 142 15. THE SLAVS IN CONGRESS . i53 16. THE INSTALLATION OF THE BAN 161 17. AT INNSBRUCK . i73 18. THE RESCRIPT OF IOTH JUNE . 185 19. DRAVE OR DANUBE?. *95 20. ACROSS THE DRAVE . 206 x THE MAN WHO SAVED AUSTRIA CHAP. PAGE 2 1. TO LAKE BALATON ..... 2I 5 2 2. A MAIL- HAG OF LOST LETTERS . 228 THE TURN TO VIENNA 23. .... 2 39 BEFORE VIENNA: 24. SCHWECHAT . 248 " "VIVAT DER ! PRINZ HOCHLEBE ! 25. JELLACIC 258 26. 2ND DECEMBER 1848 .... 267 TOWARDS BUDA-PESTH 27. .... 276 28. SUCCESS AND FAILURE . 288 29. KAPOLNA AND THE CONSTITUTION 297 30. THE BATTLE OF ISASZEG AND EVACUATION OF PESTH 308 DOWN THE DANUBE 31. 3i7 32. AND THE END OF HEGYES, THE CAMPAIGN 327 AFTER THE WAR 33- 335 " 34. WORTHY GODS PITY THEY " MOST, THAT SUCCEED ! 348 PEACE AND REMEMBRANCE 35. 357 36. CONCLUSION 3 6 5 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Joseph Jellacic, 1850 . Frontispiece Engravedfrom an oil-painting, FACING PAGE Kaiser Franz giving Prizes . 24 By permission of the Gallery of Verona. Prince Metternich ........ 28 the By Raphael Morghens ; by permission of Uffizzi Gallery, Florence. A Captain of Sereshans ....... 68 From a water-colour in the Academy Museum, Agram. Porcelain Figures of Sereshans . 92 From the Academy Museum, Agram. Sereshans . • • . .104 From a water-colour in the Academy Museum, Agram. Baron Joseph Jellacic in Hussar Uniform . .136 By permission of Herr Braunschwilt. Joseph Rajacic, Patriarch . .156 By permission of Herr Braunschmitt. The Ban's Entry into Agram 164 By permission of Herr von BojniHL Ban Jellacic at the head of his Troops .... 204 From the Academy Museum, Agram. The Scene at Szemes ......" 224 From a water-colour in the Academy Museum, Agram. Windischgratz and the Ban before Vienna . .254 By permission of Herr von Bojnic'ti. xii THE MAN WHO SAVED AUSTRIA FACING PAGE The Sereshan Camp before Vienna . ... 262 From a water-colour in the Academy Museum, Agram. Joseph Jellacic, F.Z.M. and Ban ..... 304 By permission of Herr Braunschmitt. The Coat-of-Arms of Ban Jellacic ..... 348 On silk. Academy Museum, Agram. The Emperor Franz-Joseph and his Generals . 352 By permission of Herr von Bojnicii. The Palace . the . of Ban, Agram (Present Day) . 364 Statue of Ban in . Jellacic Jellacic Platz, Agram . 368 THE MAN WHO SAVED AUSTRIA 1801-1810 CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF A CENTURY " Who thinks aright, proving and seeking it, With God's help for his good sword, Is not perplexed what the result may be, For his desire is all his honour's crown." Motto of the Jellacic fam ily. There is a theory that centuries must needs begin and end in storm and strife, as though the waves of time gathered themselves to a wild effort when they surged over the man-made division. Certainly there is no more stormy period in history than that of the ending eighteenth and commencing nineteenth centuries, with its colossal transitional figure of Napoleon "heaving new worlds towards the day." In this battle of the giants, names fling themselves upon our minds with a shock of acknowledged greatness, and a host of recollections. Wellington, Nelson, and Pitt for England; while Talleyrand, and all the wondrous group of soldiers called to leader- her in ship by the supreme genius, stand against boast a France. Austria can hardly great general ; but, in January 1801, a rising young diplomatist 2 THE MAN WHO SAVED AUSTRIA received his first charge, and Clement Nepomuc Wenceslas, Count Metternich, entered upon the struggle and triumph of his life : so long before the days when his name was a sign to men of unyielding hidebound opposition to progress. This year of 1801 was full of important events throughout Europe. The First Consul of France drew towards the height of his power when he saw " " Cobentzl, the Austrian envoy, sign the terrible Treaty of Luneville, and the check given by Nelson's "glorious day" of Copenhagen was counterbalanced by the preliminaries of the Peace of Amiens, when exhausted England cried truce for a breathing-space. In the north it was memorable as the year of Czar Paul's murder, when the mystic, impressionable Alexander mounted the bloody throne of Russia. The new Czar was to be a strong influence on the future, and a hastener of the "day of deliverance" for which Europe was beginning to long. He was to become the best ally that Franz II. of the Holy Roman Empire, soon to be Franz I. of Austria alone, would find in the struggle which humbled the Hapsburgs' pride so sorely before it ended triumphantly in 181 5. Apart from these great events, the 16th October 1 80 1 saw the birth of the child whose history we are about to follow, the man who made so deep a mark in the annals of his country. In the fortress of Peterwardein, to the general- commanding, F.M.L. Baron Franz Jellacic von Buzim, and his wife, was born their eldest son. He was christened Joseph, and here let me say that in writing of Slav people I shall use their own spelling of surnames, and the more familiar version " " of translatable Christian names. Iellatschich may THE BEGINNING OF A CENTURY 3 approximate the sound to English ears, but it is a " clumsy form with no meaning, while Franje" and " Josip" seem pedantic when they may be replaced by the well-known "Franz" and "Joseph." Genealogy is notoriously wearisome, yet it is necessary to know something of the hereditary feeling which partially forms a character.