HUNGARY: Again, Flogging

Reactionary Hungary prepared for a step back 74 years last week. 1855. In her gilded coach the young, radiant, newlywed Empress Elizabeth rode out from the Imperial Hofburg, heard frightful screams from a nearby barracks square. They were men's screams. "Stop! Call the guard!" cried the Empress. "Something terrible is happening!'' "Your Majesty need experience no alarm," soothed a punctilious equerry. "This is merely the hour for flogging military delinquents." Flashing-eyed, the petite Empress insisted on alighting from her coach. Amid courtier consternation she actually walked the short distance back to the...