Századok – 2013
TANULMÁNYOK - Deák Ágnes: A politika ne nyúlj hozzám virág volt. Sajtószabályozás a Schmerling-provizórium időszakában III/625
SAJTÓSZABÁLYOZÁS A SCHMERLING-PROVIZÓRIUM IDŐSZAKÁBAN 653 együtt. De nem voltak elégedettebbek a magyarországi politikai vezetők sem. Mindkét magyar kancellár kísérlete zátonyra futott, hogy szigorú, de betartható szabályozást léptessenek érvénybe, pedig a magyar viszonyokat ismerve nyilvánvaló volt, az 1860-1861-ben a palackból kiengedett szellemet nem lehet egyszerűen újra visszaparancsolni üvegébe, bármilyen megtorlással is fenyegetik. Az egy évtizeddel korábban hatékony represszív szabályozás az 1860-as években már anakronizmus volt, a katonai szigor ellenére. Bécsből tekintve épp ellenkezőleg, inkább a szigort kevesellték, s annak tulajdonították a sajtófelügyelet mindennapi megtorló teendőit. 1865 tavaszára látszólag a keményvonalas irány győzedelmeskedett, de akkor már a legkevésbé sem voltak alkalmasak a politikai keretfeltételek ahhoz, hogy a papírra vetett és kihirdetett rendszabályok alkalmazására a magyarországi politikai színpadon mozgó szereplők közül bárki is, talán az uralkodót kivéve, komolyan gondolhatott volna. „POLITICS WAS A TOUCH-ME-NOT FLOWER”. REGULATION OF THE PRESS DURING THE SCHMERLING ADMINISTRATION by Agnes Deák (Summary) In the period of the Schmerling administration (known as the provizórium in Hungarian scholarship), which lasted from November 1861 until the summer of 1865, the leaders who were in charge of the Hungarian affairs in Austria regarded as one of their chief tasks to prepare the conditions for a future state-level agreement. Consequently, it was of prime importance for them to orientate the public opinion towards the acceptance of legal compromises, a great role in which was attributed to the political press. However, the procedure according to which the press was to be supervised was undefined. In the preceding decade it was the press act issued in 1852 which was in vigour in Hungary, together with the relevant measures of the Austrian penal code. Yet the so-called October diploma of 1860 had declared the latter ineffective in Hungary, and the decisions of the conferences led by the judge royal, which orientated the jurisdiction, contained no prescriptions on the regulation of the press. Nor did pre-1848 Hungarian jurisdiction provide any legal orientation in this respect. It was only act 18 of 1848 which could have been put into force, but this possibility was excluded by the ruler. The latter’s patent, which ordered the so-called provizórium on 5 November 1861, temporarily solved the problem by declaring that the hearing of political and press offences should belong to the military tribunals, and be judged according to the military penal code, whereas the everyday supervision of the press should continue to be based on the prescriptions of the 1852 act. It was clear, however, that new regulations for the supervision of the press had to be established in order to overrule the extraordinary rules in force. The situation was further complicated by the acceptance by the Austrian imperial council (Reichsrat) in late 1862 for the Western provinces of the Empire of a much more lenient press act than the one in force before. The two successive chancellors in charge of the Hungarian affairs, count Antal Forgách, and later his successor, count Hermann Zichy, both made an attempt at preparing a regulation of the press, in 1863 and 1864 respectively, but both remained a dead letter. The present study examines the two propositions, and analyses the causes of their failure.
