The Croats, whose last traces of independence had been wiped out by
the Magyars, rallied round Colonel Joseph Jella[vc]i['c]. In the
resounding and statesmanlike phrases of his proclamation on March 11,
Jella[vc]i['c] had declared that a grand purpose was before them. "It
is to attain," said he, "the renascence of our people! Alone I can do
nothing, if among the sons of one same mother there is not peace and
understanding and fraternity."
"We are," exclaimed Gaj at a sitting of the Diet--"we are one nation!
There are no more Serbs nor Croats!" One has been too apt to consider
that the Croats armed themselves merely in defence of their own
wrongs; their leaders anyhow looked far beyond.
Two days after Jella[vc]i['c] had uttered these words the court of
Vienna, aghast at the tempest that was blowing from everywhere, from
Prague and Galicia and Hungary, from Lombardy and Venetia, and from
their own easy-going capital, had destituted Metternich. On the next
morning the Emperor made it known that he would grant his peoples all
the liberties they wanted. He had not had time to ascertain whether
this would gratify the Magyars. But as one of the Croatian liberties
was the nomination of Jella[vc]i['c] as their Ban, the Emperor
appointed him; Jella[vc]i['c] joined hands with the National party and
proceeded to break all the chains that bound Croatia to Hungary. By
his circular of April 19 he instructed the Croats to respect no other
authority but his. Slavonia, Dalmatia, the Military Frontiers and
Rieka were, according to his plan, to be reunited to Croatia.