"[17] In
another place Mr Boner says, "The Szekler soldier, I was told, was
'excessive,' which means extreme, in all he did."
In the view of recent events, it may be worth while to recall to mind a
few particulars of General Bem's campaign in Transylvania. In no part of
Hungary was the war of independence waged with so much bitterness as
down here on these border-lands. The Saxons and the Wallacks were
bitterly opposed to the Magyars; and on the 12th of May, in the eventful
'48, a popular meeting was held at Kronstadt, where they protested
vehemently against union with Hungary, and swore allegiance to the
Emperor of Austria. Upon this the Szeklers flew to arms--on the side of
the Magyars, of course; throughout their history they have always made
common cause with them. In the autumn of the same year, Joseph Bem, a
native of Galicia, who had fought under Marshal Davoust, later with
Macdonald at the siege of Hamburg, arid had also taken part in the
Polish insurrection of 1830, attached himself to the Hungarian cause. He
had formed a body of troops from the wrecks and remnants of other corps,
and soon by his admirable tactics succeeded on two occasions in beating
the Austrians at the very outset of his campaign; the latter of these
victories was near Dees, to the north of Klausenburg, where he defeated
General Wardener. The winter of that terrible year wore on. In
Transylvania it was not merely keeping back the common enemy, the
invader of the soil, but it was a case where the foes were of the same
township, and the nearest neighbours confronted each other on opposite
ranks.
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188