Page:Heinrich Karl Schmitt - The Hungarian Revolution - tr. Matthew Phipps Shiel (1918).djvu/38

 history of the Revolution, that at a time when all Hungarian Departments, and all local National Councils, were spending themselves in the effort to maintain order, in Croatia every good result was rendered impossible through the toleration flown there of conditions which might have been held up to the wildest Wild-West as examples in atrocity. This conduct may be taken as the touch-stone and measure of the level of the populations. While in Hungarian districts only the elements really dangerous even in quiet times took part in the work of disturbance, in many districts which are emphatically not Magyar even the more responsible parts of the population permitted themselves; to commit acts, which, under the name of political struggles, were really crimes against property.

In the Hungarian Province the organised working-class at once set to work, and, from what I heard from the most diverse parts of the country, they contributed worthily to the support of the statement, which is hardly to be denied, that the Hungarian and German elements, among all the nationals of the country, evinced most discipline and self-culture. The Germans of Hungary, with their sobriety and sureness of comprehension, were solid supports of order in the first days of the new time.

In the late afternoon the force of special guardians of the peace was already formed, and I saw the numberless soldiers of the Republic, with their badges on their sleeves, looking after public order.

Later on came more stirring news out of the interior.

People at this hour were under the impression that the will of the people, now set free, might rage out into anarchy. But, on the other side, the regulations were so clear-cut, and there was such a mass of strength and initiative at hand, that I felt little doubt even in the most critical period of the uproar. I was sure there would be great disturbances, but did not lose faith in the possibility of handling them, and was disinclined to give credence to overheated fancies.

Time, so far at least, has proved me right.

The most important events, meantime, cropped up in the evening.