Prior to the 1848 revolution, the Orthodox clergy and the Serbian people living in Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia were not satisfied with their status and situation; it was so much the easier then for them to embrace the ideas which, following the outbreak of the revolution, came from Karlovci, from Patriarch Rajacic and the Executive Committee of the Serbian people. The revolutionary events were regarded in the Serbian community in Croatia as a propitious moment for many changes that needed to be carried out in order to improve their social and economic position and to extend national and religious rights. Proof of this statement can be found in Bishop Jovanovic's letter, in which he congratulated Jelacic on his appointment as Ban. In his warm and friendly greeting, in which he expressed hope that the Ban would be "just in every respect," the Bishop wrote: "I take this opportunity to beg Your Excellency not to forget that here in Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia there are Serbian people who speak virtually the same language as the Croats, but who worship God differently and who use a different script. These Serbian people have suffered great injustices, both in Hungary and here in Croatia. Our schools have no teachers of their own religion; the children are not taught their own writing (Orthodox); Christian teachings are scorned; priests are not adequately paid, and yet the frontiersmen of the eastern church serve the Emperor equally well as those of the western church. You were a colonel of a frontier regiment. Did you have any complaints against the Serbs? I think not. Our bishops are not suitably remunerated; in other words, we have been oppressed by the secular authorities in every possible way. What could be worse: they do not allow us to ring our church bells on Roman Catholic Good Friday! How does this tally with freedom of religion? For seven years now, I have been battling over these bells, and I would rather resign and move away than suffer this shame. I am sure there are many others who think like me."

Jelacic answered Bishop Jovanovic's complaint about the status of the Serbs in Croatia and the injustices they had to bear by saying that he would most certainly act in accordance with the proclaimed principle of eliminating all differences based on religion and introducing full equality. If this was not immediately feasible, the Ban begged for patience and understanding, pointing out that there was no going back when "everything in the world is progressing." He particularly drew the Bishop's attention to the dangerous situation in the land, "where terrible upheavals are taking place everywhere." Therefore, being in no doubt about his patriotism, he requested Jovanovic to use all his influence as a "spiritual leader" to maintain peace for the sake of a better future and well-being of the people.

Bishop Jovanovic's laments about discrimination against the Serbs in Croatia were not solitary. The Serbs presented their requests in the form of "popular demands," which were drawn up in mixed (Serb-Croat) and purely Serbian communities. Slavko Gavrilovic, our highest authority on the 1848/49 revolution, wrote as follows:

"If there were any particular, Serbian demands, they had to do with the church and schools and with religious and national equality. The best testimony to this is the demand of the Serbian Orthodox clergy of the Kostajnica district, which said that 'now when the sun of liberty and enlightenment is shining brightly in the Croatian skies, and since our religious and language ties are not keeping us from achieving the long desired concord and sincere fraternity', this clergy wants to be on an equal footing with the Catholic clergy, requests permission to freely perform conversion from one confession to the other, so as to strengthen love and concord with the Catholics, wants Cyrillic to be taught alongside Latin script in all schools and for all pupils, irrespective of their religion, and the influence of the Orthodox clergy in schools to be increased at the expense of German directors, and so forth.

"The Serbs of Komorske Moravice demanded that their 'eastern church be renovated with the state's assistance' and their clergy and teachers paid from the state coffers, as was the case with the Catholic priests, since they all bore the same burdens. Those from Plaski were in favour of a civil administration in the Military Frontier region and called for a ban who would be 'a son of the Triune Kingdom, irrespective of religion'. Next, they wanted national rather than German schools, the introduction of Cyrillic script in all schools and for all pupils, appointment of school masters, as of all other civil servants, without regard to their religious affiliation, and equal rights for both churches. Furthermore, they wanted the communes to be autonomous and the soldiers from Croatia to be returned from the Italian theatre of war. The frontiersmen 'of the Serbian nation and eastern church' from the Zrinj Company demanded that they not be called 'non-Uniates' because, as they said, they regarded themselves as 'a nation of Serbian origin - Serbs', of whom there were more than three million in the Monarchy, but unrecognized, so that the state did not even pay their clergy. In consequence, the Serbian nation 'requests equity in all respects with their Catholic brethren'. The Zrinj frontiersmen were in favour of a South Slav concord, but also called for the abolition of the 'vague' name of 'Illyrian'; they wanted to continue being known as Serbs and Croats and to have local self-government headed by local officials.

"Similar undertones, particularly in connection with religious equality, will also be found in the 'demands' put forward by nationally mixed communities, such as Bjelovar, Dubica, Glina, and others.

"Even before the revolution, the Serbs did not have any particular national programme; all they wished for was to preserve their national and religious individuality and to achieve equality with the Croats within the Triune Kingdom, on the basis of a national, Croatian-South Slav programme, which they had virtually everywhere formulated jointly, as witnessed by their signatures on all the 'popular demands'."

The popular demands adopted at the national assembly of the Triune Kingdom held in Zagreb on March 25, 1848, gave rise to a great deal of optimism among the Serbs and Croats in Slavonia. The Serbs were particularly pleased with the resolution which proclaimed "the equality of all, irrespective of rank or religion."

Actions carried out in the spirit of the proclaimed equality clearly demonstrated that major spiritual changes were about to take place in Croatia and Slavonia. The Kaptol (Zagreb See) selected from among its prelates a delegation to assist at the solemn installation in Pakrac of Stefan Kragujevic, the "eastern, non-Uniate bishop." The Kaptol's envoy, Stjepan Mojzes, made "a wonderful speech," in the words of Serbian priest Luka Sevic, about national harmony. It is quite certain that such an instance of religious tolerance could not have happened if the Zagreb Bishopric had then been headed by Bishop Juraj Haulik, a prelate whose reactionary views could absolutely not be reconciled with the libertarian spirit of the revolution.

The Croatian and Serbian burghers were swept by the ideas of liberalism and religious tolerance. These ideas broke down all barriers, particularly those of a religious nature, which stood in the way of a rapprochement between the Serbs and Croats. All Zagreb Catholic churches put out the tricolour Croatian flags as proof that the Church, too, gave its blessing to the popular rebellion. The Serbian Orthodox Church in Zagreb also raised the Croatian red, white and blue flag, a gift from Ljudevit Gaj's wife, which bore the embroidered inscription: 'For Slavdom and Liberty'.

Ebullient over the liberal populist ideals, the Croats and Serbs of Karlovac staged a perfect manifestation of confessional tolerance and concord. In the year 1848, the Orthodox and Catholic Easter fell on the same day (April 23rd). The Croats arranged with the Serbs that on Good Friday, Christ's Sepulchre should be guarded in the Orthodox Church by the Catholics, and in the Catholic Church by the Orthodox. On Easter Saturday, when the Croats celebrated Christ's resurrection, their celebration and procession were hailed by the Serbs by the ringing of all the bells from the Orthodox church, whereupon the entire Serbian congregation joined in the procession. Pleasantly surprised by this Serbian gesture, the Croats immediately reciprocated. On the morning of Easter Sunday, they took part in the Easter procession together with the Serbs. All the bells from the Catholic churches greeted the Orthodox procession, which was also joined by the Catholics. Together with the Serbs, they sang "Christ Is Risen," before the doors of the Orthodox church. Describing the national fervour of the Serbs and Croats, Ljudevit Gaj's Novine pointed out that such a thing was happening for the first time since the Great Schism in 1054. Something of the sort happened again, several weeks later in Osijek. By way of allaying Catholic suspicions of their wanting to "turn Catholics into Vlachs," the Serbs joined a Catholic procession, greeting it with the ringing of church bells and firing of guns.

Having in mind the conflicts with the Hungarians and anticipating that the Serbs and Croats would be compelled to wage war on them in order to safeguard their national and political interests, Ban Jelacic and Patriarch Rajacic took the lead in efforts to overcome all Croat-Serb disputes and bring about unity and concord. Particularly important in this respect was Jelacic's Proclamation of 1848, addressed to "the Croatian and Serbian people in the Triune Kingdom," which was printed in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Jelacic wrote in emotional tones: "What we need now is a strong will, and there can be no strong will without accord. Therefore, may accord and brotherhood reign between us, irrespective of differences in our religions; a brother should not stand aloof from his brother. Every past cause for hatred and discord between brothers of the same blood has now ceased to exist. Differences in faith and church no longer erect barriers between brothers and people of the same nation; equality has been proclaimed."

Janko Safarik, staying in Zagreb, noted that "the importance of the Serbs is acknowledged by all," that everyone agrees that the Croats "can do nothing without the Serbs," that "they respect the eastern religion and Cyrillic alphabet as their own, as the true and original writing of all Slavs" and that "there is not a trace of any antagonism in Zagreb anymore." Safarik pointed out that "the prelates themselves think so" and that "the Croats want the closest possible brotherly union with the Serbs on the basis of complete equality." According to Safarik, all the Croats at that time, including Jelacic himself, thought and openly stated that "in due course, a federal state must be made from all the South Slav lands, with the head in Belgrade and the body in Serbia."²² Passing on his impressions from Zagreb, Dimitrije Matic wrote to Stefan Stefanovic Tenka, minister of justice and education in Serbia, that in the past "the Croats used to speak about our Serbian people contemptuously" but that now, because of the danger of war and threat from the Hungarians, "they are compelled to become our brothers; they are extending their hand to us and are trying to live in harmony with us."

The need to unite with the Serbs as a safeguard against Hungarian aggression was pressed home in Gaj's Novine by Bogoslav Sulek. On the day of the holding of the May Assembly at Sremski Karlovci, which decided on the creation of a political alliance between the Serbian Vojvodina and the Triune Kingdom, Sulek reported that the Hungarians had sworn to destroy the Croats, because it was only on the ruins of the Croatian nation that they could erect the throne of their Asiatic despotism. The Croats, therefore, had no alternative but to prepare for war and look for reliable allies. However, Sulek noted, allies did not have to be looked for. They existed already in the person of the Serbs, "brothers in blood, kinship and tongue, brothers in history, crown and constitution," with whom the Croats had the common interests, the same spiritual life and the same future, and what is more, the same enemy. Sulek concluded that the Croats and Serbs had strong mutual links, and that the barriers separating them, particularly their religious differences, were torn down the very moment religious equality and inviolability of religious confession were proclaimed.

Expressions of brotherly love between the Serbs and Croats reached their peak on June 5, 1848, on the occasion of the inauguration of Josip Jelacic as ban. In the absence of Bishop Haulik, who had removed himself from Zagreb, it was before the Serbian Patriarch that the Ban took his oath of office. One eye-witness wrote about the event as follows: "The shouting, hailing, applause and throwing of hats in the air cannot be described. Croats embraced Serbs, the priests from both churches embraced each other in their exultation, and we all shed tears, moved by emotion and joy."

Swept up by patriotic sentiments, the Croatian poet Ivan Trnski wrote a poem of welcome for the Serbian Patriarch. His verses, which faithfully reflect the climate of public opinion in Zagreb, read as follows:

Just as a freezing man longs for the sun,

So we long for Serbian solidarity.

May the brotherly peoples,

By the Serbian Patriarch be blessed.

I thank thee, O Lord,

For having granted to me today,

To see the glory, to weep tears of joy,

When the Croat is embraced by his Serbian brother!

And for having allowed me to see

Heroic Ban Jelacic

Standing before the Serbian Patriarch

Swearing his oath to God Almighty.

The Croatian Sabor likewise fell into the spirit of the proclaimed unity and accord. Several Croatian speakers laid special emphasis on the great services rendered by the Serbs to Croatia and the Croats. Thus, for example, at the parliamentary session of June 6th, 1848, Ivan Kukuljevic-Sakcinski said the following about the Serbs in Croatia: "At a crucial time, when we were groaning under the aristocracy, Latinism and Germanism, these people preserved our national purity."²⁷ Leader of the Croatian people's spiritual renaissance, Ljudevit Gaj, also spoke about the Serbs in Croatia at the same session: "Since our future hinges on fraternity between Serbs and Croats, I dare point out that these people deserve much credit; let us just think of all the muscle-power there is in Kordun to defend us; they are all Serbs." Accordingly, when drafting a Sabor memorandum for Austrian Archduke Johann, Ivan Mazuranic laid special emphasis on the fact that the Sabor was making the same requests "on behalf of our Serbian brethren... because we are one people and so strongly welded together that nothing in the world can tear us asunder again."

Following the numerous and often euphoric expressions of love, accord and unity, dissensions began to make themselves felt every day. The main reasons for the misunderstandings were of a religious character. Rumours became rife that the Serbs wanted to convert the Croats. This unfounded and maliciously incited fear of "being turned into Vlachs" was spread by the conservative and clerical circles, whose centre was in the Zagreb Kaptol. The key figure in all this, who made no secret of the fact that he was against the proclaimed religious tolerance, was Bishop Haulik. The campaign against the Serbs playing upon the Catholics' fear of conversion was also carried out in parts of Slavonia and Srem by Catholic officers, particularly those who had been dismissed from the Petrovaradin Regiment. They were joined by all the Magyaron officers, who described the Serbs and the Serbian movement in Vojvodina as anti-Croatian and anti-Catholic.³⁰ Once the seed of discord had been sown on religious grounds, disagreements and dissensions arose over some other questions, such as whether Srem belonged to the Triune Kingdom or to the Serbian Vojvodina, the respective jurisdictions of the Croatian ban and the Serbian vojvoda, and, particularly, whether the Croats would come up with timely military assistance to the Serbs in Vojvodina who were at war with the Hungarians.

In order to put a stop to the rumours about the ill-intentioned Serbs supposedly wanting to proselytize among the Catholics, the Executive Committee of the Serbian people on July 13th issued a proclamation to "Roman Catholic Slavs in Srem and Slavonia." Emphatically denying all the lies about alleged Serbian Orthodox aggression, the Committee swore "by God Almighty and all His saints" that the Serbs were not even thinking of what was being maliciously imputed to them. To persuade the Croats of the Serbs' good intentions, the Committee pledged on its "word of honour and faith in God" that it would "defend them like brothers" against anyone who might attack their religion.

In the Croatian Sabor, Ban Jelacic called upon the bishops of Zagreb, Senj, and Djakovo to "instruct the clergy to reassure the populace concerning religion, since no danger threatens any of our churches." Soon afterwards the Sabor adopted Article 14 of a law "on preventing false rumours that the Roman Catholic Church is threatened by danger." The law was published in full by Gaj's Novine on August 8, 1848, and was sent to all the relevant authorities, ecclesiastic in the first place. This law brings to light the destructive forces which, according to Viktor Novak, always appear whenever there are strong signs of "a popular will for Croato-Serbian union, irrespective of religious differences between the Serbs and Croats." The major and most convincing argument wielded by those who caused confusion and stirred up religious dissensions among the uninformed and uneducated lower strata of the Roman Catholic population was the malicious misrepresentation of Patriarch Rajacic's part in the inauguration of Ban Jelacic.

It is not known how the Roman Catholic bishops responded to the injunction to send out encyclicals immediately to inform their parishioners about the unfoundedness and harmfulness of the false rumours which were causing alarm and dissensions.³³ It is known, however, that on his own initiative, with the noblest of intentions, Patriarch Rajacic addressed "the Serbian people of the Orthodox Church in Serbian Vojvodina" in a printed proclamation issued on September 5, 1848, in order to prevent the Serbs in Croatia and Srem from making any ill-advised moves and causing a fracas with the Catholics, from trying to gain by force some of their contested religious, national, social or other rights, and from setting upon their neighbours of a different faith and causing bloodshed in their revolutionary euphoria. The Patriarch said in it: "My heart was saddened when I learned that the sons of the Orthodox Church are quarrelling, and disagreeing with their brothers who belong to the Roman Church. My heart is bitter, because the time has now come for all brothers of one blood and one language to think, speak, and act as if they were one body with a single soul living in all of them, without ever thinking of asking a brother in which church he worships. Everyone should love his church with all his heart, cherish it as something most precious, and defend it with all his might; but to hate one's brother, to vilify him because he goes to a different church, because he worships the same God in another manner, is neither proper, nor Christian-like, nor agreeable to the people or to God! My heart saddened when I realized that some of my Orthodox Serb flock committed acts which are offensive to God, to the Emperor and to myself, inveighing against their western church brethren with unbecoming words. Our Saviour and Redeemer loved all men equally, whatever their religion; our Saviour also enjoins us with his holy words to love men whatever faith they belong to. Would we go against His sacred commandments and hate and attack our brothers because of their religion and their Church? This is not acceptable either to God or to man. Therefore, I, as the Patriarch and as the spiritual leader of the people, strictly forbid any assault against our brothers of the Roman Church, either by word or by deed, and I order you as your Father and your authority, to meet your brothers in love, and to live with them in peace and concord. Do you not realize that our common enemy is on our doorstep? Does he not threaten both them and ourselves with ruin and murder? To drive him away from our homeland, we must join our forces and not tear them apart; if we break asunder, we shall only be making his work easier for him, placing the dagger in his hand to stab both of us through the heart. Woe betide us and our children if things go awry for us on account of discord; the bones of those who sow discord shall not rest in peace in their graves, whether they be the sons of the Orthodox or of the Roman Catholic Church, when their children and grandchildren begin to curse them as they groan in the shackles of the savage foe, who tramples underfoot what is most sacred to them, their nationhood, and who affronts the memory of their forefathers! Therefore, my children, listen to me, love your brothers, do not fight them, and then God will bless you and will reward you with a happy outcome of our holy war, which we are waging for the freedom, happiness and well-being of ourselves and our great grandchildren!"

This text, which deserves a place in anthologies and which unfortunately is topical today and could well serve as a model and lodestar to many a political leader or religious prelate, did not go unheeded. The Patriarch, with his authority, did head off all the excesses which threatened to appear. His success was so much the greater as the wise, gentle, dignified and noble Christian appeals of the Serbian Patriarch and "temporal leader of the people" were joined only two days later by Ban Jelacic with his Proclamation issued in Zagreb on September 7th in both Cyrillic and Latin script, which was distributed throughout Croatia and Slavonia. The Ban addressed "all spiritual and secular heads and officials and all other people in Croatia and Slavonia." The proclamation was written on the eve of Jelacic's departure into war with the Hungarians, for which reason he demanded of all whom he addressed that they maintain order, peace, and harmony, because, he wrote, "this is very necessary for our homeland, if we are to reach the desired end." The Ban pointed out: "I recommend particular vigilance to you, the priests of both churches! Your authority extends over hearts and souls; your duty is to lead the people and instruct them: lead them for the benefit of our homeland, destroy in them any hate against a brother on account of a different religion, and teach them how to meet the exigencies of the present times."³⁵

The reasonable and timely appeals by the Serbian Patriarch and the Ban of Croatia, which, judging by their almost simultaneous appearance and similar content, must have been drafted along agreed lines, attained the desired effect. There were no major conflicts or excesses between the Croats and Serbs, Catholics and Orthodox. The greatest credit for this goes to the Ban and the Patriarch, who managed, despite all their differences, to unite the Croatian and Serbian movements and direct them against the common foe from the north, who threatened them equally. Understanding the difficult position of the Serbs and Croats in 1848/49, Rajacic and Jelacic did not allow themselves to be carried away by religious and national passions. Just as the Patriarch respected members of the Catholic religion and the Croatian nation, so the Ban respected Orthodox believers, referring to the Serbs in Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia not as "populace" but as a nation, because he regarded them as equals in all respects with the Croatian nation. In line with this stance, he addressed one of his earlier-mentioned appeals to the "Croatian and Serbian peoples in the Triune Kingdom." Had he treated the Serbs in Croatia as "populace" rather than as a distinct nation, it is almost certain that in the circumstances obtaining at the time of the 1848 revolution, the conflict between the Croats and Serbs on religious and national grounds which appeared imminent could not have been avoided, and it would have had tragic consequences for both sides.

When eventually, thanks to the efforts of the Patriarch and the Ban, and despite frequent disagreements, an accord was reached on the main issues, the Serbs began more and more frequently, without any major obstructions, to use the Cyrillic script in their official communications with the authorities. A case in point was Bishop Jovanovic, who used Cyrillic script in his correspondence with the Ban's Council, which was the government of Croatia, and the Ban's Council answered him in the same script. Acting Ban Mirko Lentulaj told Bishop Jovanovic on June 6th, 1849, that the Ban's Council recognized as justified his wish to use Cyrillic script. The Council therefore concluded that the reader for primary schools should be printed in both Latin and Cyrillic, pointing out that it would "satisfy the principle of equality and fraternity" and that this book "can be used in every schoolroom" in the way which "best suits local circumstances."

When Bishop Jovanovic heard that the Bishop of Pakrac, Stefan Kragujevic, did not use Cyrillic in his correspondence with the Croatian secular authorities, he reprimanded him for "doing great harm to our cause." Jovanovic asked how the Croatian authorities could be persuaded that the Serbs needed separate schools if the Pakrac Consistory used not Cyrillic but Latin characters. "Where will this take us?" asked Jovanovic, beseeching Kragujevic to use Cyrillic henceforward in his communications with the Croatian authorities.³⁷

The high level of equality attained in the 1848/49 revolution, which was later to be revoked, is illustrated by the "Fundamental Rules of Public Education for Croatia and Slavonia," which were published at the end of the summer of 1848. In the section on "elementary schools," which enumerates the subjects in the curriculum, it was stated that the mother tongue would be taught and that "in observance of the principle of equality, both the Latin and Cyrillic script are to be taken into consideration." In the section on the teaching of religion, it says: "For the two confessions practiced here, western and eastern, elementary schools should be identically set up, having different teachers only for the teaching of religion. Accordingly, when appointments were made of teachers for other subjects, their confession was not to be taken into account.

The Ban's Council department of education, which drafted the "Fundamental Rules" following the model of similar rules set out by the Austrian education ministry, according to Acting Ban Lentulaj, was observing the liberal spirit of the times. It was therefore decided that the department of education should have two advisors for ecclesiastical affairs, one for the western and the other for the eastern Church.³⁸

One of the major issues on which either an improvement or deterioration of relations between the Croats and Serbs in Croatia hinged was the question of the proportionate numbers of them employed in the various state, county and city offices. Janko Safarik wrote: "The Serbs in Croatia with whom I have spoken have all told me that they are perfectly in accord with the Croats and are only waiting to see whether the Croats will show any bias in the matter of filling the posts, and if they see that everything is truly being done as is being promised, they will be perfectly satisfied and are hoping that it will really be so."

During the revolution, the Serbs were accorded a great deal of trust and were represented in substantial numbers in many political and other bodies. A few of them were in the committee for the struggle against the Magyarons. Important assignments were performed by Maksimilijan Prica, one of the best lawyers in Croatia, a writer who signed his texts with the nom de plume of "Plesevacki." At first he served as one of Ban Jelacic's secretaries, before becoming a member of the Croatian delegation to the Slavonic Congress in Prague, where he was elected secretary. Later on, throughout the revolution, Prica was not only a contributor but also an editor of the democratic newspaper Slavenski jug, and a deputy of the Otocac Regiment in the Croatian Sabor.⁴⁰ Other members of the editorial board of this paper, which the Austrian police claimed was started with Prince Milos Obrenovic's money, were Nikola Krestic, former editor of the parliamentary gazette Saborske novine, Mojsije Georgijevic, Dane Stanisavljevic, and Ognjeslav Utjesenovic Ostrozinski. Contributors to this paper included many other democratically minded Serbs from Croatia, Slavonia, and Vojvodina.

Ognjeslav Utjesenovic was also politically influential. He was first appointed to the Committee for Draft Legislation on the Organization of the Triune Kingdom before becoming a member of the Ban's Council war department. He devoted considerable attention to the question of reorganization of the Military Frontier, concerning which he made a special memorandum for the Sabor. He also drafted legal principles to regulate the organization of the army in Croatia and Slavonia, which were accepted by his committee. In addition, Utjesenovic worked in the General Command in Zagreb and organized eight army battalions and one company of sappers from the miners of Rujevac, who had been recruited to Jelacic's army for military operations against Hungary.

As an active politician, Utjesenovic disputed the concept of historical rights upon which the entire Habsburg Monarchy rested and instead called for the principle of natural rights. In an article published in Slavenski jug,⁴³ he proposed the formation of a federated Austria, which would be made up of seven national crownlands: German, Czecho-Slovak, Hungarian, South Slav, Polish-Ruthenian, Romanian and Italian. The federation was to have a common parliament, with an equal number of representatives from all nations, a common foreign policy, common finances, trade, and war affairs. Utjesenovic's ideas on the federal organization for Austria were accepted as their own programmes by the Croatian and Serbian National parties gathered around Slavenski jug and the "Slavenska lipa" (The Slav Linden Tree) society.

Other Serbs presiding over various departments in the Ban's Council included Gavrilovic for finances and Bozidar Petranovic for education. An important role was filled in the financial committee of the Ban's Council by Hristofor Stankovic, while important services were rendered to Ban Jelacic and his government by the eminent Serbian merchant of Zagreb, president of the First Croatian Savings Bank, Anastas Popovic.

An important part in the revolutionary events of 1848/49 was played by the Serbs of Slavonska Pozega. Prominent among them was the young lawyer Svetozar Kusevic, who happened to be at Bratislava as representative of the free royal city in the Hungarian Diet when the revolution broke out. He had become an honorary citizen of Pozega and was one of the leading National Party members in Slavonia who stood up for their resolute struggle against Magyarons and Hungarian designs on Croatia, Slavonia, and Serbian Vojvodina. Kusevic was elected deputy to the Croatian Sabor for the city of Pozega by a large majority of votes. In the Sabor he became member of the committee formed to draft the principles on which the future government and Sabor would be organized, and he was also elected to the Sabor's delegation which, led by Ban Jelacic, was sent to the Emperor in Innsbruck. Other Serbs in the delegation were Mojsije Georgijevic of Osijek, and Jovan Stejic and Joksim Novic of Srem. Kusevic was one of those Serbs who were trusted by the Ban, and Kusevic in turn had no doubt that Jelacic would "support the wishes of his Serbian brothers" at the imperial court. There were other well-to-do and eminent Serbs from Pozega who in a variety of ways took part in the movement for the defence of the homeland.

The Serbs of Pakrac showed extraordinary devotion to the popular movement. They enthusiastically collected donations for the outfitting of the army and created a special company of volunteers which was regarded as one of the best in the whole of Slavonia. To use the words of vice-zupan Josip Bunjak, the small commune of Pakrac had provided "a wonderful example, which should be emulated by the richer communes and towns."

An even more important role was played by the Serbs of Osijek, because they were in the midst of the Nationalist-Magyaron struggle in Slavonia and were the closest to the Serbian movement in Vojvodina. It should be borne in mind that the Magyaron movement was strongest in the county of Virovitica, with its seat in Osijek. "After the Germans and Hungarians almost unanimously opted for Hungary, while the Croats were divided for and against Jelacic (or took a passive stance, which was particularly true of the peasants), the Serbs in Osijek and in the Virovitica county, like those in the Pozega county and Gradiska regiment, almost to a man supported Ban Jelacic, who in their eyes represented the Croatian and the broader South Slav movement. They, therefore, became the backbone of the anti-Hungarian resistance movement throughout the area stretching from Dalj across Osijek to Virovitica, Vocin, and Djakovo. The Serbs from Osijek were the most prominent among them, including the National Party leader Dimitrije Vukovic and the young lawyer Mojsije Georgijevic. Others who took up the defence of the "threatened nationality" included the Osijek priest Lazar Bojic, a county official Djurdjevic and solicitor Marko Tajcevic.

During the sitting of the Croatian Sabor in June and July of 1848, the Serbs made an impressive show in both numbers and addresses to the parliament. There were about fifty Serbs in the Sabor, nearly half the total number of deputies. Their number in the Sabor was proportionally larger than the percentage of Serbs in the population of Croatia and Slavonia, including Srem. Most of them were educated men, merchants and tradesmen. The general conviction was that the Croatian Sabor would decide the fate of the country, and the Serbs therefore endeavoured to be well represented in it.

Among these, Mojsije Georgijevic, Petar Matic, and Dimitrije Orelj supported the most liberal and radical proposals. Other outstanding members included Svetozar Kusevic, Jovan Obradovic, and Dimitrije Vukovic. The Serbian deputies were relatively well represented in all the Sabor committees. They particularly dominated in the debates which concerned relations between the Triune Kingdom and the Serbian Vojvodina, the legal affiliation of Srem, and the relationship between the Croatian ban and the Serbian vojvoda. They also showed great interest in the debates on the Triune Kingdom's stance vis-r-vis Austria and Hungary, in the problem of the Military Frontier and in the reforms which were due to be carried out in that area. In the debates concerning the land ownership records, they were especially interested in the way of resolving relationships between the former landowners and their erstwhile feudal tenants.

When during the Sabor session "voluntary contributions for the defence of the homeland" were requested, the Serbs responded in large numbers according to what they could afford. How keen they were to defend their common homeland was convincingly shown by Sevastijan Ilic, archimandrite of the monastery of Gomirje. Having no money on hand to make a contribution, he took off the gold chain of office from around his neck. Ban Jelacic was so touched by the gesture that he handed him the chain back and put in thirty ducats on his behalf. It is worth noting that Konstantin Bogdanovic, one of the Serbs who distinguished themselves in the 1848/49 movement, made a gift of 2,000 forints "on behalf of a young Serb," who presumably was Prince Mihailo Obrenovic. It was the largest sum given in contribution for the defence of the homeland.

Finally, it is important to note that all Serbs from Croatia and Slavonia, from the ordinary frontiersmen to their highest-ranking officers, throughout the war with the Hungarians stood unwaveringly by Ban Jelacic. Convinced that they were defending their homeland and common Croatian and Serbian interests, they shed rivers of blood, first in the battlefields in Hungary, then at Vienna, and finally in the bloody battles in Backa and the siege of the Petrovaradin fortress.

There are no reliable figures on the number of Serbian casualties. The records in the archives of the Plaski Eparchy permit us to ascertain approximate Serb losses in Croatia and Slavonia. According to church registers, in 1848 there were a total of 225,887 Orthodox parishioners. After the revolution and wars had taken their toll, in 1854 their number had dropped to 206,265. It therefore seems that every tenth Serb from the Plaski Eparchy paid with his life for the defence of the common Croatian and Serbian homeland. It is logical to suppose that approximately the same percentage of lives was built into the foundations of freedom, equality, and Croatian independence by the remaining Serbian population from the area of the Croato-Slavonian Military Frontier.

Biblioteka | The Size of the Serbian Population and Religious Equality

Copyright © 1997 by Vasilije Krestic
Copyright © 1997 by BIGZ , Beograd
Copyright © 1998 by Serbian Unity Congress