The
traders were without a single firearm amongst them, so that the
fully--armed brigands effected their purpose, though it was broad
daylight. Another time they entered a market town in Transylvania and
coolly demanded that the broken wheel of their waggon should be mended,
threatening to shoot down anybody who offered the slightest opposition.
The post was frequently stopped, but it came to be remarked, that though
the passengers were generally killed, the drivers escaped. This,
together with the fact that the post was always stopped when there were
large sums of money in course of transit, led the authorities to suspect
that their employes were in collusion with the robbers, and subsequent
events proved this to be the case.
When the hostility of Austria had somewhat cooled down, the dangerous
up-growth of these robber bands attracted the serious attention of the
Government, and not only _gendarmerie_ but military force were employed
against them. The officials to a man were Germans and Bohemians,
indifferently honest, and hated by the peasantry, who, after all,
preferred a Hungarian robber to an Austrian official. The consequence
was that they were not by any means very ready to depose against the
"poor lads," and the Government found themselves unequal to cope with
the difficulty, so things went from bad to worse.
In 1867, when at last the reconciliation policy of Deak had effected a
substantial peace with Austria, the Hungarian Constitution being
reestablished, and the towns and _comitats_ (counties) having got back
their prerogatives and self-government, the intolerable evil of
brigandage was at once brought before the attention of the Parliament
assembled at Buda-Pest.
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