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 cases of capital offences, and no less than two hundred of the malefactors were condemned to the gallows.

“Wherever they can the peasants will shelter the ‘poor lads’ from the law,” said my friend.  “It happened only last spring in our neighbourhood that a robber had been tracked to a village, but though this had happened on several occasions, yet the authorities failed to find him.  It was known that he had a sweetheart there, a handsome peasant girl, who was herself a favourite with everybody.  One day, however, the soldiers discovered him hidden in a hay-loft.  There was a terrible struggle; the robber, discharging his revolver, killed one man and wounded another.  At length he was secured, strongly bound, and placed in a waggon to be conveyed to the nearest fortress.  When passing through a wood the convoy was set upon by a lot of women, who flung flowers into the waggon, and a little farther on a rescue was attempted; but the military were in strong force, and the villagers had to content themselves with loud expressions of sympathy for the ‘poor lad.’  He was, in truth, a handsome, gallant young fellow—­open-handed, generous to the poor, and with the courage of a lion—­just the sort of hero for a mischievous romance.”