his,
together with the fact that the post was always stopped when there were
large sums of money in course of transit, led the authorities to suspect
that their employes were in collusion with the robbers, and subsequent
events proved this to be the case.

When the hostility of Austria had somewhat cooled down, the dangerous
up-growth of these robber bands attracted the serious attention of the
Government, and not only _gendarmerie_ but military force were employed
against them. The officials to a man were Germans and Bohemians,
indifferently honest, and hated by the peasantry, who, after all,
preferred a Hungarian robber to an Austrian official. The consequence
was that they were not by any means very ready to depose against the
"poor lads," and the Government found themselves unequal to cope with
the difficulty, so things went from bad to worse.

In 1867, when at last the reconciliation policy of Deak had effected a
substantial peace with Austria, the Hungarian Constitution being
reestablished, and the towns and _comitats_ (counties) having got back
their prerogatives and self-government, the intolerable evil of
brigandage was at once brought before the attention of the Parliament
assembled at Buda-Pest. There were a great many speeches made upon the
subject, and Count Forgacs with a considerable military force was
despatched to Zala and the adjoining country against the robbers. He
simply drove them out of one part of the country to carry on their
devastations in another, and dreadful robberies and murders were
reported from Szegedin. On several occasions the post was stopped, and
the passengers were invariably killed. They even stopped the railway
train one day at Peteri.

Government were now obliged to take stronger measures. They recalled
Count Forgacs, and despatched Count Radaz as Royal Commissary with
augmented powers, Parliament in the mean time voting a grant of 60,000
florins for the purpose.

The energetic measures taken by Count Radaz led to some remarkable
disclosures. He discovered that tradesmen, magistrates, and other
employes in towns and villages were in communication with the brigands,
and in fact shared the booty. It came to be remarked that certain
persons returned suddenly to their homes after a mysterious absence,
which corresponded with the commission of some desperate outrage in
another part of the country.

In the space of fifteen months Count Radaz had to deal with nearly six
hundred