• A.DVENTILRES A_ND A.NECD °TES OF TILE Air STRIA.N .A.EHT
IN THE ILITIPGAMILA CAMPAIGN.* Tim batik consists of several seotions - the first of which contains a.narrative of observations and adventures, pparently by an officer who was quartered at Presburg before the fate Hungarian outbreak, and was employed in the neighbourhood dmino.e' e troubles and confusion that preceded the actual war. On the second revolution at Vienna, in the autumn of 1848, the regiment was among those ordered to advance upon the capitol; whose bombardment and as- saulthe witnessed, rather than joined in as he saw, with composed enough eyes, the subsequent military executions and misery- of the Viennese. He was afterwards engaged in the campaign in that
of Hungary which lies between the Each and the Thiess,
the Danube for its Northern boundary' where it runs directly East. In the course of his service, the narrator assisted atmost of the events that took -place in that region, both in the first- gleam of success that attended the Austrian armies and in tlwir subsequent reverses, till the intervention of Russia and the surrender of Giirgy. terminated the war; a surrender rendered absolutely necessary the narrative intimates by the loss of men, the growing disorganization of the army, and the want of money and necessaries.
It does not appear whether the book is by an Englishman in the service of Austria, or the translation of a narrative written in Ger- man, or the conglomeration by Mr. Tyndale, the editor, of several amounts by "eye-witnesses." The original anther or authors, how- ever, are one in spirit. The pervading genius is a thorough soldier, of the old hard and vulgar school, whose only good qualities were courage, fidelity to his :standard, and a sort of reckless philosophy aid ood-nature. He can bear the hardships of a campaign, and do Ins duty amidst a population latently or openly hostile; but it is apparent that he better likes the parade entertainments, and pleasures of goolquarters in quiet:times. He has what is celled good feeling • but pretty much limited to his own side, or to great soldierly qui:lifieations in an opponent ; while the ill deeds of the enemy are unsparingly held up to odium, and we suspect with no
small share of e ration. He has also something of the miii- tarv for civilians, except as purveyors of entertainments,; with few exceptions, a feeling of contempt for the Hunga- rians and their leaders, which the events of the campaign did not justify, and which the final result would by no means have stroported bat for the assistance of Russia.
e intellectual man, unfortunately, resembles the moral in its likeness to the soldier of former days. There is no mastery, no largeness of view, about the Austrian campaigner. He tells what he saw done : how they marched here and marched there, and then marched back again • how the artillery fired, how the cavalry charged, and the infantry advanced or retired; and how one side
• Adventures and Anecdotes of the South Army of the Emperor of Austria, dining the late Hungarian Caapaigu. Narrated by Eyewitnesses. Edited by J. Warre Tyndale, Author of " The Island of Sardinia," &c. Published by Bentley.
or the other claimed the victory. But there is no graphic) repre- sentation of the battle as a whole, or any account of the intelligent process by which the Victory was gained ; still less is there any clear description of the strategy of the campaign, of" the objects sought to be attained, or the means of seeking them. All is in a state of inextricable confusion so far as regards thegeneral objects proposed 'by-the leaders ; such as the single 'movements of large maws of men -must always appear to the uninitiated. This con- fusion is indeed so great, that it would seem to confirm -the idea of conglomeration—" collection of matter into a loose ball." It is, however, a book of personal experience and adventure, contradistinguished from a bald general history. The Austrian saw some single striking scenes of war and warfare ; somewhat too, of its -horrors and atrocities ; and he witnessed those of his own party in cool blood, without any apparent sense that they were atrocities. The following is a fearful picture of civil-war, waged by an ignorant and exasperated peasantry ; for there is im doubt but thatm.the "fierce Croatian "is quite as 'bad as any Hun- garian boor.
"After bivouacking a few days on the Plateau-of Titel to ascertain the peel- tion and movements of the enemy, the Ban reviewed his different troops now assembled in this wild and lonely place, and marched us on through Vilova to KoviL Instead of seeing or hinting the inhabitants come forth to us as either friends or foes, as we approached the place, we were struck by the silence and tranquillity of everything around ; and as we got nearer and nearer, we REM that battered wane and blackened ruins were all that remained of the once comfortable-and happy village of limit
"still-we saw not a soul, and heard not a voice ;, step, 'by step as we ad., vanced we found the none desolation and silence, and on entering the walls we beheld what an internecine war can cause. Before us, and on every side, lay the dead bodies. Athos° who had either attecapted to retreat or had de- fended themselves to the last ; and among the ruins of the houses were the hewn-down trunks of others, who probably had had no chance or "In the remains of a monastery, where the Ban had taken up his head- quarters, the church had been desecrated with the. some ruthlessness as the rest of the building. 'On the pavement we found shrivelled up bits of-some embalmed saint ; in the court-yard pool were the- bodies of some monks; and on the door oft an adjoining house, which had been half consumed by fire was hanging the body of a young girl, nailed up with_ her hada downwards.
"The wells had been converted into reservoirs a mutilated limbs, and dead cats and dog,s had been added, so as to-prevent even the dying from as- suaging their parching thirst ; and not a grave had been dug for the reeking carcasses, so that their putrefaction might infect the air. Whatever remained of the houses attested the plunder and violence of the ruthless robber, and even the ornaments and paintings of the churches had not escaped their sacrilegious hands. The whole place looked as if all the dremons of war had been holding one vast jubilee, and as if their orgies had been suddenly termi- nated by the all-destroying she& of an earthquake. " had nearly got to the end-of the village, horror-stricken and heart- sick At the devastation around, and remarking that not even the carrion vulture or bloodthirsty wolf had added their share of injury and insult as a climax to Honvod murders, when' on turning a corner, we beheld two dogs gnawing the bosom of a human being, which had as yet partially escaped putrefaction.
"They had evidently been tearing her limbs, and had left the mortified parts; the animals were positively fat and fastidious, and showed how they must have been revelling in their human feasts. Our first impulse was to rush at and kill them ; but we were so sickened that we could only turn away shuddering from the revolting spectacle, and join our comrades."
At the end cif 'the narrative is an account of the economy of the Austrian army ; which is not, perhaps, so necessary for the English reader as the writer seems to think, but it contains a good deal of useful and practical information brought compactly together, with some hints that will be useful to Englishmen contemplating taking service under that power. "Every one entering the service—whether an Austrian subject or a foreigner—with the intention of rising to the rank of officer, must undergo the, same strict personal examination by the surgeon of the regiment as the private soldier does before he can be admitted as cadet. Any serious ail- ment or malformation is a bar to his admission; nor can he be received till he is sixteen. Application for admission must ,prcuieed through some satis- factory channel by wal of reference ; and it is generally made by. some well- known officer to the Inhaber, or proprietor of the regiment, in whom all the appointments are vested. On his approval, the young man joins the ranks as simple cadet, whether in a cavalry or infantry regiment; but it is better for foreigners to enter the latter, though the cavalry may be their ultimate object, as it enables them to learn the language more thoroughly, as well as the routine Of that branch of the profession. "An entrance-fee, of about thirty 'florins for infantry and ninety for ca- valry--about three pounds and nine pounds sterling—is applied for various purposes, including the payment of the Commismenture (the uniform and arms) ; both of which, except the yellow porte epee, and the sword instead of the bayonet, are exactly the same as those supplied to the private, and must be worn when on duty and on all active service. "An extra uniform of superfine cloth, purchased at his- own expense, may be worn on all other occasions, the quality being the only distinguish- ing mark: and bpi-hese he is everywhere recognized, and never subjected to any disagreeable consequences of being mistaken for a private soldier ; except, occasionally by foreigners, 'to whom the difference is either un- known or not apparent, and who have therefore often been surprised at seeing the supposed private associating so much with his officers. Under no pretext whatever, except for foreign travel, are plain clothes ever allowed to be worn.
"The pay of the cadet is the same as that of the private—between seven or eightkreuxers, or about twopence-halfpenny par dapin the infantry, and nine or ten kreuzers, or about threepence-halfpenny, in the cavalry; this, however, varies a little according to the price of provisions, and the extra sum is termed a ' Beitrag.' If he has no other pecuniary means, he would be debarred from joining in the expenses of his officers in their private life, and be thrown more eesentially among his fellow cadets ; but mere poverty brings no depreciatory slur or coldness either from his wealthier comrades or from his officers who admit him with open hand and warm heart to their society, provided he earns it by good conduct. "The degrees of intimacy and familiarity vary very much in different re- giments, as they do in all armies ; but when circumstances enable him to participate in the pursuits and enjoyments of his superiors, he generally as- sociates with them as their equal in everything except the position of military rank, and in this respect he is treated exactly as if he were merely and
actually a private; the performance of every duty with perfect submission and.respeet is moststrictly enforced.; and it is on. his behaviour in this ano- malous position that his future advancement so much depends. • • •
" But se British subject should ever enter the Austrian service unless he first lap aside any idea of a similarity between the English and Austrian service. -How-many have joined the latter with an incorrect notion of it, and without some private pecuniary means ; and how bitterly have they repented:af the step! How many have come to us with means not sufficient for them to do much in their own oountry, but enough, as they have sup- posed, to ` cut a dash' in an Austrian regiment I—and they too have- no less mistaken the career ; for if poverty may be a bar to advsmeementi the most ample means, when misapplied, may be equally so, in a profession where hammy, ambit-1011,4nd industry, are the principles, motives, and necessaries of its existence, and where rank cannot be obtained for money or refused for want, ofit.
"ID the infantry regiments there are sometimes as many as eighty cadets, in the cavalry- seldom above six ; but none need despair of advancement."
Appesuled to the main narrative are a variety of " sketches " of the leaders of the Hunganan insurrection ; drawn, apparently, from. some German periorli,.:1, and resembling those "characters" of public men whieh were formerly more the fashion in English magazines than at present. They are written with some knowledge
of originals.