The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-21 00:00:00

GERMANY

AND

THE NORTHERN STATES.

RESOURCES OF HUNGARY.

In consequence of the systematic misrepresentations
of the reactionary press of all countries, and of the
jealous supervision of all letters passing through
Austria by the authoritiei of the Government, it is
almost impossible to obtain anything like accurate
intelligence of what is passing in Hungary. The
French National, however, publishes a letter from
its correspondent on the frontiers, setting forth
the actual amount and condition of the
Hungarian forces, the respective Austrian corps
d'armee to which they are opposed, and de-
scribing the actual state of affairs in Hungary on
the 10th of December last. Up to that date, not-
withstanding the repeated assertion of the reactionary
prints, hostilities had not commenced, and no Hun-
garian squadrons or battalions had passed over to the
Austrians, as those prints have falsely asserted. Hun-
gary at that time was menaced with invasion from
four different points, viz., from Transylvania, the
Banat, Croatia, and the frontiers of Austria, and the
following dispositions had been made by Hungary
for defending herself against these aggressions.
General Bern, at the head of 15,000 men,
was on the frontiers of Transylvania, where he kept
in check 15,000 Austrians who occupied Klausen-
bourg, under General Puchner. To these forces which
are ready to invade Hungarylrom Transylvania must
be added a portion of the Saxon and Valaque tribes,
who have declared for Austria, whilst the Szekiers,
a warlike race of Magyar origin, a fighting and brave
nation inhabiting the frontiers, are in arms for the
Magyars, and admirably second the operations of
the army of General Bern. On the south,
in the Banat of Temeswar, is stationed
under the orders of General Feller, the army
destined to act against the Servians. This is the
largest of the Hungarian armies, and amounts to
60,000 men, half of whom are veteran troops. The
line of operation of this army extends from the
Theiss to the Danube. In possession of the fortresses
of Eszek and Peterwaradin this force has opposed to
it 10,000 Austrians, who occupy the fortified towns
of Temeswar and Arad, which this army is besieging.

- -
These 10,000 Austrians are support, d by the Servian
population of the Lower Danube. The Polish Legion,
one of the battalions of which is under the command
of Major Wysocki, forms a part of this second army.
In tracing up the Drave towards Waradin, we
find the third Hungarian army, of 8,000 men, all
effective regular troops, destined to act against
Agram. General Perczel, who some months since
took the entire corps of General Roth prisoners,
commands this third army. It is opposed to 10,000
Austrians and the Croatian Landwehr.

Lastly, the army of the west, or of Presburg,
which is intended to act against Windischgratz and
Jellachich, is composed of 40,000 men, and is under
the orders of General Gorgey. It is opposed by
43,000 Austrian; who have been :reinforced by the
army of Simmonitch. To these forces must be added
20,000 National Guards, well armed, all the Land-
strum, and a body of Poles in the north, occupying
the defiles of the Karpathian mountains, from Kubin
Kaesmar to Eperiez and Unghvar, andpreventing the
entrance into Hungary of any hostile force from Galli-
cia. This army ofthe Karpathians, which acts in combi-
nation with the army of the East, is also under the
command of General Bem.

The effective force of the regular Hungarian troops
consists of—

21 battalions of infantry (veterans) ;
56 ditto (newly raised) ;
9 ditto (raised by individuals whose
names they bear);
21 squadrons of hussars (veterans);
32 ditto (newly raised).
These 32 newly-raised squadrons are composed ex-
clusively of old soldiers who have been used to war.
150 pieces of field artillery complete these important
means of defence.

The general spirit of the army is excellent, and with
the exception of some few members of the high aristoc-
racy, the whole population of Hungary is devoted, heart
and soul, to the cause of independence. Arms, not men,
are wanted, but every day an additional number of
muskets is distributed to the people. Notwithstand-
ing the most active surveillance of Austria, the
Hungarians constantly receive arms from abroad.
A manufactory of arms established at Pesth supplies
daily 500 muskets. Another is at work in the county
of Gemar, and at Carsovic, at Debraczer, at Great
Waradin, in every manufacturing town, in short, all
the artizans are employed in manufacturing arms
Presburg, Comora, and Pesth are fortified. Ammuni-
tion is abundant, and the financial resources of Hun-
gary are good, as her gold mines supply sufficient
bullion for her wants.

There has been an issue of paper money guaranteed
on the domains of the Crown, which have been con-
fiscated, and these notes are accepted in preference
even to the golden ducats which Kossuth has recently
caused to be coined.

The union of the 'Hungarian nation is due to the
moderation of Kossuth, whose dictatorship has been
universally accepted because he is the representative
of order as well as of force.

The reactionary-prints represent Hungary as a prey
to the most anarchical disorder; such is not
the case, never was Hungary more orderly, never
were the laws better obeyed there than they are at
present. But this is not the only falsehood which
the reactionary journals have circulated with regard
to Hungarian affairs. It is not true, for example,
that the Hungarians shot General Phillippovitch at
Pesth, it is not true that Mazzaros went to 011mutz
to make propositions to the Emperor, and the most
ridiculous of all these fabrications is, that which pre-
tends that the Hungarians had opened negotiations
to procure the passage of Kossuth to America.

Windischgratz can advance upon Pesth by two
routes, that of the banks of the Danube by Comora,
and that (by far the longest) which, leading to the
south, joins the route by the Plattensee.
In the first case, admitting that he should take
Presburg, without the possession of which it will be
impossible for him to advance, the troops which
defend that town would fall back upon Raab and
Comora, and reinforce the troops destined for the
defence of this latter fortress, which is at present
garrisoned by six battalions of regular infantry.
In the second case, the army of Presburg, ad-
vancing rapidly into Austria, might by a coup de
main take Vienna, which would in that case be left
undefended, and thus decide the question in the heart
of the Empire.

Not content with the imposing forces which
are marching against Hungary, the Emperor
Ferdinand has deigned to afford his moral sup-
port to the anti-Hungarian cause, and this Noble
Prince has terminated his career by one of
those acts of infamy for the perpetration of
which the massacres of Gallicia had prepared us.
In a proclamation addressed to the Slovacks
of Northern Hungary, sign€d by the royal hand,
which proclamation was seized on the 4th of Decem-
ber at Kubin, in the county of Arva, the ex-Emperor
Ferdinand urges his faithful peasants to murder
without mercy all the Hungarian landed proprietors,
because, says this proclamation, of the " mild and
good," they are opposed to the abolition of the
corvees. It is difficult to imagine anything more
atrociously perfidious; but all persons of intelligence
have long since done justice to this detestable course
of policy, which can now deceive none but those who
are in the most degraded state of brutal ignorance.