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From the New Monthly Magazine.

JELLACHLICH, BAN OF CROATIA.

THE Ban Jellachlich! the very name plunges us into the midst of wild reminiscences, barbarous heroism, strange irregular grandeurs! Sclavonic history is rich in all these half savage, but fascinating glories. See how they stride out before us, the two Nicklas Zrinyi, the hero of Szigeth and his descendants, Czerny Georg, leader of the Servians in their war for freedom, and a whole host of others! The Ban!--the very title is full of romantic mysticism. It is as if we heard that the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order or of the Swerdt-Brüder was encamped before the Brandenburg gate at Berlin. We thought all these medieval magnificences had disappeared under the peruques, Austrian as well as Prussian, of the eighteenth century. We knew of nothing more venerable than Frederick the Great's pig-tail and Kaiser Franz's jack-boots. But it seems all this not only lives, but lives very energetically and effectively. People are beginning to ask not only what is a Ban, but who is the Ban? And both are very proper questions and well deserving to be answered, as we hope to show before we have closed

this paper.

A Ban is a very respectable and a very real dignitary-something like our Lord Warden of the Marches, or more resembling still, the old, not new Italian Marchese, or German Margraf, but somewhat higher than all these a sort of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as he was wont to be in the times of Henrys and Elizabeths, when he had Desmond insurrections to attend to--or in the time of Charles, when the Puritans of the North in fierce revolt against Charles represented the Hungarians as the Catholics under Ormonde for the moment, the Croats and Sclavonians. In olden times there were many of these marches, or borders, or Banats, in the west and southwest provinces, until by successive absorptions they were reduced to one, the united kingdom of Croatia, Sclavonia, and Dalmatia, which held watch and ward for the Austrian empire, on its

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most dangerous frontiers, against the still 66 The more barbarous Turks. Ban" or lord," as the name signifies, is the third of the Hungarian barons of the empire, holds in his own land the rank of Palatine and presides at the "Bantafel," or Ban council at Agram, as the Hungarian Palatine at the royal council at Pesth. And high as is the honor, it has been raised still higher by the great men, (some of whom have been just noticed,) who have held it. Of these none perhaps is even now more famous than the present bearer. And yet we are only at the first or at most at the second chapter of his history.

Jellachlich is a Croat-a Croat to our ears sounds something like Cossack.

We see a horde in the act of burning their way through defenseless villages, or marching through towns from which their inhabitants had fled, no grass growing where their horses' hoofs once had trod; famine before, and pestilence behind, more dangerous to friend than foe, only a few massacres off from the exploits of the Turcoman and Tartar. The leader of Croats, to keep Croats together, must be the worst Croat of them all. Jellachlich, as a sort of army-elected chief, could only have gained their hearts by much the same qualities as gave Alaric and Attila their soldier sovereignties, daring, active, cunning, cruel; the more barbarian, the more likely to be successful. Such certainly has been very much the Magyar coloring of his portrait, and from old predilections in favor of Magyars, partly owing to that magnificent acclaim, "Moriamur pro Rege nostro Maria Theresiâ," and partly, we believe, to their heroism, or at least heroic dress, we are inclined to trust ourselves implicitly to their accuracy. Till lately, we candidly confess, we saw in the Ban little more than a stipendiary of absolutism; hired by the Kaiser, much as Goth or Dacian freebooter was hired and converted into a patrician or consul by the Cæsars of old to bring back, when the empire was crumbling around

them, some rebellious fly-away kingdom to a sense of unity and allegiance. The Sclavonic version is of course different; it comes from the hand of an admirer. But there is a third, which is neither Magyar nor Sclavonian, without favor as without hate. Many of the features in the following outline come from one who stood near enough to see, but was clear enough from race-partialities to see rightly.

his age. When eight years old he was presented to the Emperor; Kasier Franz, struck by his intelligence and vivacity, took a particular liking to the boy, and had him forthwith placed in the Theresian Academy, which, despite of its cloistral and even ascetic character, has, somehow or other, turned out, in both the military and civil departments, some of the highest ornaments of the Austrian name. In this school, Jellachlich developed those powers for the acquisition of languages, which at a later period evinced themselves in the facility with which he spoke German, Italian, French, Magyar, and the several idioms of the Sclavonic. His predilections, however, were military. Mili

The Ban is an European prince, in the decent European sense of the word; equal to any in refinement, above most in energy and genius. And it is a singular phenomenon, not less attractive to the philosophic historian than to the poet, the contrast which these broken-down monarchies pre-tary tactics, with their accompanying sciences, sent to the young democracies. The impulse of progress seems to have worked less wonderfully, to have thrown up less mind, if more minds, than the despair of dissolution. What has come forth from the cauldrons of France, Italy, and Prussia? Yet Austria has made a new Eson out of an old; in her agony she has given birth to Radesky, Windisch-Grätz and Jellachlich.

history, especially ancient, and modern literature, were his favorite studies. With these he combined the usual corporeal exercises, and became an expert fencer, a good rider, and a first-rate shot.

At the age of eighteen, his physical and intellectual preparation being completed, he entered the army as sub-lieutenant in the dragoon regiment of his maternal granduncle, the General of Cavalry and Vice-Ban of Croatia, the Baron Kneserich, of St. Helena, then under the command of Colonel Olah von Nanas, and was sent to join whilst it was still in garrison at Tarnow in Gallicia.

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Jellachlich-to begin with the man himself-is no Francesco Sforza, no Condotiere, no bucaneer of fame. He is of a noble, almost of a Ban family. Joseph Jellachlich, (Jellacic,) Baron Jellachlich de Buszin, is the eldest son of the Baron Franz Jellachlich de In this service he soon acquired the love Buszin, who, as retired field-marshal and and esteem of those around him. Just and proprietor of the 62d regiment of infantry, humane to his inferiors, true-hearted to his now Turszky, died at Agram in the year equals, punctual and submissive to his supe1810. Of Croatian parents on both sides, riors, he was at once regarded in every reJoseph was born at Peterwardein, on the spect as an excellent officer. The Austrian 16th of October of the same year, on the an- army abounds in small societies, fraternities niversary of the birth of the celebrated auf Noth und Tod;" they go far to mainCzerny Georg, thirty years before. In the tain that military spirit and good fellowship child, the characters of father and mother which still keeps the army together. He were blended; under the latter, during the was their very soul. His gay and intrepid prolonged absence of his father in the French bearing, his wild and vigorous enjoyment of war, the earlier part of his education was life, his invincible good temper, his sparkling passed, and from her gentle teaching were wit, fascinated and informed as with one drawn all those soft and kindly affections, spirit every circle in which he moved. that early passion for poetry, and devotion an iron constitution, he was last at the table to intellectual pursuits, which so mark him at night, first on horseback in the morning; out from his fellows; his indomitable activity, in every freak, in every exploit always forehis frank and firm spirit, his unaffected, dash- most. And under all this, which so marked ing cheerfulness, he inherits from his father. the future free-chosen chief of a bold, advenIn his earliest infancy he was remarkable for turous people, he concealed sources of the the quickness of his perception, and the ac- purest and gentlest poetry, a soul melting curacy and tenacity of his memory; as years with tenderness, a spirit of devotion and rolled on, he gave indications of great pre-self-sacrifice, almost absolute, to his own. cision in all he applied to; already indications were visible of that eloquence for which he has since been distinguished. His self-control and presence of mind were far beyond

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Though often in female society, he is said to have scarcely noticed the passions he awakened; his whole being hung upon his companions in arms, and the charities of his own

home. Over his mother and sister, of whom he was early deprived, the latter in the full flush of youthful beauty, he still mourns; to his two brothers, one, colonel in the Carlstadt border regiment, the other Chef d'Escadron in the dragoon regiment of the Archduke Franz Joseph, he was ever most devotedly attached. But this somewhat dissipated life could not be continued long with impunity. After five years his vigorous constitution began to give way. He was attacked with a serious illness, accompanied with much suffering: at any moment it might have terminated in sudden dissolution. Those who saw him at that period on his bed of sickness, and possibly, as they then thought it, of death, speak with admiration of the unaltered composure, and almost defying serenity with which he met the visitation. And then, too, it was, that he composed most of his poems. They well preserve the temper of mind in which they were written. They breathe the daring and lofty aspirations of a young, unsatisfied mind after a nobler future, bitter sighs over his abruptly broken existence, and a thirst and hunger for the energetic and useful in deed and word should Providence vouchsafe him an hereafter. And so it happened; Providence proved merciful. In 1825 he began gradually to recover; his convalescence soon proceeded rapidly; before the year was over he was enabled to rejoin his regiment, then quartered at Vienna. It would be difficult to describe the joy, the jubilee with which he was received by his fellow officers. He was at once chosen by Major General Baron Geramb as his adjutant of brigade, and so serviceable did he render himself in this capacity, that on his regiment moving under Colonel Count St. Quentin for Poland, he was retained in the capital, nor allowed to follow till a year after.

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When once more among his old comrades, he resumed all his old habits; he was the beginning, middle, and end of all proceedings. Jellachlich was everywhere in demand; nothing could be thought of, nothing done without Jellachlich. No one more precise, or even pedantic, in the performance of his military duties; but no sooner was the sabre thrown aside, than he was sure to be found at the head of his fellow-officers, in some desperate chase, through thick and thin, night and rain, after amusement. After passing a joyous day in the stations near, he and his detachment were often in the habit of riding back miles together, to be in time for the parade of the morning. Jellachlich

was a reckless rider. On more than one occasion horse and rider escaped from pit and morass by his presence of mind, or the timely aid of his companions. In the tumult of these wild expeditions it was that he composed most of his war and soldier songs, and in particular the "Garrison's-Lied," or "Garrison Song," so well known and so heartily sung through the whole of the Austrian army. A joyous chant it is, a biting satire on the old antiquated martinet system of Austrian tactics, but withal full of right good hope for the future, a hearty inspiriting cheer, like the call of a trumpet, to good fellowship, brotherly union, and an honest soldierly maintenance of military spirit and discipline.

And now the French Revolution of July broke out, and great was the bustle on every side. In the apprehension of immediate war, augmentations, advancements, promotions, a general stir showed itself through the whole empire. Jellachlich profited with the rest. Through the patronage of the then new President of the Council of War, Baron Von Radossevich, an old and grateful friend of his father's, he was promoted to the rank of captain-lieutenant in one of the Hulan border regiments. The separation from his old fellow-officers was on both sides a severe trial. Nor to this day is it forgotten. Eighteen years have now passed, but the evidences of his attachment are as strong as ever; whilst he is now, as always, their favorite. His "Garrison's-Lied" they claim as their especial property; no joyous occasion is ever allowed to pass without thundering it out, as of old, in hearty chorus. Nor was this confined to them; he soon added new friends to old; everywhere loved as soon as known, he succeeded in winning, as no other officer had yet done, the sympathy of the entire army. In the beginning of 1837, Jellachlich advanced another step. We find him major of the Gollner regiment of infantry, now the regiment of the Archduke Ernest, and adjutant general to Count Vetter of Lilienberg, then military governor of Dalmatia.

From this period forth we must look on Jellachlich as a new man; the turbulence of his youth began to settle down; he gradually assumed the more earnest passions of manhood. In his new situation, and under the guidance of his gifted chief, he applied himself with eagerness to the study of the character and position of Dalmatia; a poor province, but to Austria of incalculable importance, as was well seen by the sagacity

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of Napoleon. On the death of Lilienberg, | ticipation. A Magyar ascendency was esJellachlich, with the rank of lieutenant tablished; not in the sense of the common colonel, was appointed to the first Border regiment of the Banat, and in 1842 took its command as colonel. At the head of this distinguished corps he repelled the incursions of the Bosnians, and by his courage and judgment at the affair at Posvid, gave already promise of his future military glory.

But military glory and talent were only means to an end. Jellachlich was soon to appear in a higher position and character than that of a mere successful commander. The revolution of March, 1848, opened altogether a new era to the Austrian empire. Rights, which had been well won by many a bloody and prolonged war, long claimed and long promised to a devoted people, were at length conceded, when they could no longer be refused, to all his states by the Emperor Ferdinand. In the time, in the manner in which these concessions were made, there were many elements of confusion. The court was reluctant, the people distrustful. There had been a long inward struggle, under outward appearances of stagnation, not merely between sovereign and subject, but, as it is now known, between court and cabinet. Even Metternich, behind the country, was far in advance of the Camarilla. For some time past, at least wise, if not liberal, he saw, and warned, and would have effected as he had advised, many changes, as indispensable as they were just, not so much through love of reform as through fear of revolution. No wonder then that with this consciousness-nations in these moments and matters have a sort of instinct-Hungary should have endeavored to secure, beyond the contingency of a reaction, her own liberties, and, as the most effectual mode, should have resolved to separate from the empire, and to set up for herself. Not so Croatia-her object was the same as that of Hungary, but the means sound policy pointed out for its attainment widely different. Had Hungary been an homogeneous community, with no antagonism of language, race, and religion, the course for each of the three states which compose her kingdom ought in policy and patriotism to have been the same. But such is not the case; and here, as elsewhere, the results, naturally flowing from such diversity, have followed. Apprehension of the future, resentment for the past, soon produced a total opposition of thought and action. The possessors of power feared to share their power; the excluded from power claimed and proceeded to enforce its par

interests of Hungary, but of those of a faction in Hungary: like all factions, unjust and unwise, it claimed all for itself, and would share nothing with its fellow-subjects and fellow-countrymen, the Sclavonic races of Croatia and Dalmatia. There was no excuse for this. These races in number are superior to the Magyar, nor was there any other ground more tenable to justify such assumption. In a mere brute conqueror such course might have been consistent; in men who demanded rights for themselves, who justified their efforts for separation on the ground of these rights, who went so far as to attempt to enforce them against Austria in favor of Italy, it was an absurd and unendurable atrocity. It will best be understood by English readers by referring to similar hypocrisies in Irish history; to that cry of the Irish Protestant Parliament of 1782 for independence from England, in the name of Ireland, at the same time that they were disdainfully shutting out a large portion of Irishmen, the whole of the great Catholic masses, from its enjoyment; clamoring for a free constitution, as if a constitution for a party, and not for a country, could by any possibility be free.

Whilst in connection with Austria, as a dependent member of the empire, as one only of the three united kingdoms, this monopolizing and excluding policy was hardly practicable. To leave full range for the injustice, the Magyar must, in the first instance, be left to himself. To oppress Sclavism there must be no monitor German or Tzeckian; no empire, no head, to control or command. Hence, as the obvious preliminary, separation from Vienna became necessary, not so much from hostility to the Kaiser, as through detestation of the fellow-subject Sclave. Not equality or freedom, but right to rule, and not be ruled, was their demand. And there soon could be no mistake about the means. Short only of a state of open revolt to her still recognized king was the condition of Hungary from the month of April on. She sent her ambassadors to Vienna, and later to Frankfort, as if altogether to a foreign power; she claimed the right of raising and disposing of her own troops, bound not by the general but special Hungarian oath; she used every effort to divert from their allegiance troops till then devoted to the emperor; she expressed her sympathies openly and unequivocally with the insurgents of Italy; she recalled her regiments from Lombardy, and refused all

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further aid for the continuance of the war; she repudiated all share in the imperial debt, all joining in the imperial contributions, all help of blood or money, were the monarchy itself thereby to fall to pieces;" in a word, in terms as plain as deeds could speak it, she declared her fixed determination to have nothing henceforward in common with the empire. In this emergency Croatia saw herself a serf still, in a free country, involved in a life and death struggle for right and equality, in a furious contest for home and altar-the worst of all civil wars. Aid had she none against the menaced wrong, but in her own right arm and the protection of the empire, which, however weak it might be against all, was all-powerful against each. To the empire, then, and to its head she flew. The emperor and the monarchy, one and undivided, was her battle-cry along the whole of her borders, a cry which burst the bonds which for 800 years had bound South Sclavonia to Hungary, and let loose on that devoted land, against the will and in despite of the remonstrances of Croatia herself, the wild hordes of the Raizes and Servians.

It was at this moment, pregnant with the destinies of their country and the integrity of the monarchy, that a Croatian deputation arrived at Vienna. They came to lay at the foot of the throne the expression of their fears of their devotedness. They pledged "Gut" and "Blut" for the maintenance of the Imperial crown, the union of the empire. But they implored the emperor to give them means and opportunity to redeem this pledge. They prayed him to place at their head a chief who could lead them, and whom they would follow. They solicited him to nominate a man equal to the emergency, to appoint as their Ban the Colonel Joseph Jellachlich.

The emperor was not insensible to the dangers which were fast gathering around him, and sympathized in their apprehension and resentment at the proceedings in Hungary. He granted the prayer. Jellachlich was appointed Ban of the three united kingdoms, and in a few days after covered with honors. He was successively created privy counsellor, field-marshal, proprietor of two regiments, and general commandant-in-chief of the Banat, Waradin, and Carlstadt districts.

The new Ban at once comprehended the weight and responsibility of his position. They were not ordinary times; it was not an ideal dignity. A great Sclavonic movement had begun; not volunteered, but provoked, therefore more likely to be passionate and

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He was called on to master and guide it. Thereby only could the rights of his own race, religion, and land be vindicated, the rights and power of the emperor maintained, the freedom, with the order of the whole community consolidated. "My lot," says he, writing confidentially at this time to a friend, "is cast. I take the straightforward path, the frank and open course; if I stand, well; if I fall, I fall as a soldier, a patriot, and a faithful servant of my emperor and lord!”

But this was no easy task; to master the movement, it was first necessary to master the sympathies of his countrymen, to penetrate himself with the fullness of Sclave nationality, to seize and wield the common heart. But this he sought not by blind fanaticism to the phantom of Pansclavism, as the German papers have asserted, nor by servile submission to the pretensions of the Czar, its assumed head, as was echoed from the Tribune of Pesth to the Aula of Vienna, still less by any miserable coquetry for a momentary popularity with all parties. Jellachlich was the idol of his nation, but his secret was simple and honest. He was so by force of character and virtues; he was so because quick and bold in the hour of danger; with iron hand he seized and worked the rudder of the state, and over surf and rock bore the laboring vessel gallantly and safely into port. Indefatigable, universal, everywhere present, and on every emergency, haranguing the people, admonishing the authorities, adjuring the clergy, in the street, at the council, from the altar, praising and punishing, conciliating and organizing, he was the very man for the times, as the times were the very times for him. Nothing discouraged him; nothing daunted him. He met the popular tumult and the enemy's charge with the same boldness, the same composure. A turbulent meeting had just disputed some of his orders; he entered it without notice or attendants; the murmurs, every moment growing louder, rang along the benches, till at last one who seemed to act as spokesman for the others, relying on their numbers stepped forward and exclaimed,

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No! though at the head of ten thousand bayonets thou shalt never intimidate us." Jellachlich struck his sabre calmly aside, and replied

"And without arms, the Ban keeps order and quiet in the land."

The resistance of the crowd was changed into admiration; enthusiastic "Zivios!" burst forth from every side.

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