The court and the standing army, the party of the soldier class, feared
that their commanding position would be impaired by the predominating
influence of the people. The non-Hungarian portion of the inhabitants,
choosing to ignore the fact that the new laws secured, without
distinction of nationality, equal rights to every citizen of the State,
were apprehensive lest the liberal constitution would benefit chiefly
the Hungarian element of the nation. They, therefore, encouraged by the
secret machinations of the Government of Vienna, took up arms, in order
to drag the country, which was preparing to take possession of her new
liberties, into a civil war. The Croatians, under the lead of Ban
Jellachich, and the Wallachs and Serbs, led by other imperial officers,
and yielding to their persuasions, rose in rebellion against Hungary,
and began to persecute, plunder, and murder the Hungarians living among
them.
Dreadful atrocities were committed in the southern and eastern portions
of Hungary, hundreds and hundreds of families were massacred in cold
blood, and entire villages and cities were deserted by their
inhabitants, just as had previously happened at the approach of the
Turks, and thousands were compelled to abandon their all to the rebels,
in order to escape with their bare lives.
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