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 mediæval 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 south-west 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 most dangerous frontier, against the still more barbarous Turks. The "Ban "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 honour, 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.

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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 defenceless 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 colouring of his portrait, and from old predilections in favour of Magyars, partly owing to that magnificent acclaim, "Moriamur pro Rege nostro Mariâ 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 Caesars 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 favour 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.

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 present 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 Æson out of an old: in her agony she has given birth to Radesky, Windisch-Grätz and Jellachlich.

Jellachlich-to begin with the man himself-is no Francesco Sforza, no Condotiere, no buccaneer 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 Buszin, who, as retired fieldmarshal and proprietor of the 62nd regiment of infantry, now Turszky, died at Agram in the year 1810. Of Croatian parents on both sides, Joseph was born at Peterwardein, on the 16th of October of the same year, on the anniversary of the birth of the celebrated Czerny Georg, thirty years before. In the child, the characters of father and mother were blended; under the latter, during the prolonged absence of his father in the French war, the earlier part of his education was past, and from her gentle teaching were drawn all those soft and kindly affections, that early passion for poetry, and devotion to intellectual pursuits, which so mark him out from his fellows; his indomitable activity, his frank and firm spirit, his unaffected, dashing cheerfulness, he inherits from his father. In his earliest infancy he was remarkable for the quickness of his perception, and the accuracy and tenacity of his memory; as years rolled on, he gave indications of great precision 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 his age. When eight years old he was presented to the Emperor; Kaiser 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 ac

quisition 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. Military tactics, with their accompanying sciences, history, especially ancient, and modern literature, were his favourite 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 grand uncle, 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.

In this service he soon acquired the love and esteem of those around him. Just and humane to his inferiors, true-hearted to his equals, punctual and submissive to his superiors, he was at once regarded in every respect as an excellent officer. The Austrian army abounds in small societies, fraternities "auf Noth und Tod;" they go far to maintain that military spirit and good fellowship which still keeps the army together. He was their very soul. His gay and intrepid bearing, his wild and vigorous enjoyment of life, his invincible good temper, his sparkling wit, fascinated and informed as with one spirit every circle in which he moved. Of an iron constitution he was last at the table at night, first on horseback in the morning; in every freak, in every exploit always foremost. And under all this which so marked the future free-chosen chief of a bold adventurous people, he concealed sources of the purest and gentlest poetry, a soul melting with tenderness, a spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice, almost absolute, to his own. Though often in female society, he his 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 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

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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.

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 fellowofficers, 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 chaunt 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 soldiery 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. Jallachlich 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 favourite. 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 of Napoleon. On the death of Lilienberg, Jellachlich, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was appointed to the first Border regiment of the Banat, and in 1842 took its command as colonel. At the head of Jan.-VOL. LXXXV. NO. CCCXXXVII.

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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 endeavoured to secure beyond the contingency of a re-action, 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 participation. A Magyar ascendency was established: not in the sense of the common 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 favour 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: clamouring for a free constitution, as if a constitution for a party, and not for a country, could by any possibility be free.